


Two Lives

by FicticiousDelicious



Category: Bleach
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe, Bisexuality, Bodyswap, Business, Complete, DO NOT REPOST MY FANWORKS, Drama, Drugs, F/M, Gay, Heterosexuality, Homosexuality, Humor, M/M, Metal band, Multi, Music, Romance, Sex, Slash, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, entrepreneur
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-10-12 08:18:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 29,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17463905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FicticiousDelicious/pseuds/FicticiousDelicious
Summary: Two adult men are about to get a very abrupt wake up call when they switch bodies. Is this hell on earth or just a bad dream? The story of a heavy metal band's bassist and a dedicated entrepreneur, and the tumultuous glimpse into each other's worlds that they never asked for. Two lives..All characters are adults.The band Dragona is not in any way related to real bands; it is entirely fictional, if there is resemblance it's coincidence.This story is COMPLETE.This is an Ao3 exclusive story! You'll only find it here.!!Disclaimer!! I do not own the characters mentioned in Two Lives nor do I make any profit of any kind from their mention. Ownership of these Bleach characters goes to Tite Kubo. All Characters © Tite KuboDeviantArt.com/FicticiousDelicious or FicticiousDelicious.Tumblr.com





	1. Grimmjow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday!  
> So...this fanfiction was punted to me as a challenge by someone in my life who clearly likes to punish me (but I like him bunches else I wouldn't do this shit). The challenge was to write a complete multi-chapter fanfiction on a theme and pairing that I love by the end of the week (this week) and I was not allowed to make any sex in it as descriptive with words (no 'dick', 'cock' , etc. words) like I usually do; which is almost my goddamn trademark so this was really hard but I enjoyed tearing through this challenge.  
> I was finished two days ago (on Wednesday) and I'd like to think I'm punishing my challenger back by making him wait to read it until Friday (today), but this fanfiction took two days (from Monday) to write and edit, and another day to double-check and write the meat of the last [bonus] chapter which I decided would be cool to add at the last minute. For now this fanfiction is an Ao3 exclusive from me to y'all.  
> Three days total between sleep and work...and I am not usually a speed writer! YOU'RE WELCOME GUY. I'm dead inside but this was great.  
> I hope everyone enjoys the read. This is Two Lives:

** Two Lives **

_A fanfiction written by FicticiousDelicious._

 

**Chapter 01 – “Grimmjow”**

I…woke up this morning, and I know it sounds crazy or cliché but…I wasn’t myself.

 

            “Mmmmnnn…” Ichigo rolled over in his bed and…there was the edge! THUMP. He landed down on the floor tangled in covers. How graceful. The man stirred and groaned sorely, picking himself up off of the- carpet? Since when was there _carpet_ on his floor? “Uh?” Ichigo started fighting with the cotton sheets and kicking them off. “Cotton…what happened to my silk ones?” he mumbled staring at the pile of bedsheets he kicked them across the small room and he sat on the floor by the bedside. Wait…this room! His eyes shot open and his vision whipped around the messy and tiny bedroom. There was a half empty bookcase, an electric guitar and bass both with broken strings on stands, an old amp, crates with clothes stuffed in them, a laptop on a desk that was falling apart…everything was wrong… Whose room was this?! It wasn’t his!

            Ichigo whipped around expecting to find someone else sleeping on the bed behind him in case he’d gone home with a stranger last night but…no one. The disheveled bed was empty save for the tucked sheet over the mattress and a white and tossed pillow up by the head…lacking a headboard. Ichigo shivered a bit, he was wearing something over his lower-half and some weird detailed, dark shirt that clung to him like skin so it was a little chilly. His eyes flickered at the clock on some boxes that served as a nightstand and the big red numbers scared him right up. Work! It was ten in the morning! He had to get to a meeting at work! …he also had to piss _really_ bad!

            Scrambling up so quickly that he almost tripped over some cords on the floor that ran across the room to the instruments and the amp, Ichigo bumped up against the bedroom door noisily and still managed to twist the knob and open it in a hurry. He hadn’t seen his clothes or his shoes in that mess but he’d deal with that after finding the bathroom, lest he piss himself while searching. Ichigo figured that he could apologize to whomever he’d slept with for cleaning up and leaving in a hurry later! They’d probably texted his phone and he’d have their contact somehow but right now he had to _go!_ He bolted out into the hall with loud thumping of his feet and startled several other people who were just getting up and relaxing by their own doors.

            A tribal tattoo covered man, Renji was canoodling with Hisagi, another fellow with slightly less tattoos but his fair share of piercings, against their bedroom door and looked up from kissing when his friend ran by in the hallway at top speed. Renji, a redhead, leaned out of the door watching while Hisagi, a man with dark navy hair, slid his posture to gawk too. The hell had crawled up…

            In her own bedroom of the same hall and next to Renji and Hisagi’s room a bombshell of a blonde, Tier, was painting her toenails and fingernails an electric blue on the edge of her bed when the thumping of feet going by drew her attention too. The woman, tattooed all down the arms, legs, neck and chest with gorgeous ornate designs, was startled but calm assessment followed.

            Nel, a sweet faced, curvy and sea-green-haired woman, was carrying a huge armful of laundry up the stairs in a basket when that same friend went tearing by and bumped into her. “Wo~oah!” Clothes went up everywhere and Nel fell on her butt on the ground abruptly in a confused daze with a pair of underwear landing on her head and the rest of the clothes on the floor. What had just hit her..?

            There were more people here but they were slower to realize the commotion.

            “Sorry! I’m sorry!” Ichigo was calling as he raced recklessly to find a bathroom to wash up in. Ichigo peeled into the first one he found, which was downstairs and around a corner. The door slammed shut. “Oh my god…I’m dead meat…” he mumbled hurrying over to the toilet and pulling down his boxers- Boxers?! Wait a second…he never wore things like this! And on his fingers, a ton of metallic and thick silver rings! What was going on here?! Ichigo reached to aim at the toilet so he could relieve himself and- A RING _THERE_ TOO?! He had no trouble pissing because well…that scared it right out of him. What had he done last night?!

            Ichigo felt his chest tighten and he was taking short, worried breaths as he finished up, shook, pulled up the boxers and flushed then whipped around to wash his hands. An angular face with bright blue eyes, sky-colored hair and about _seven_ visible piercings in his face alone stared back. …and that wasn’t a shirt he had on! Those were elaborate sleeve and body tattoos over a muscular canvas! Ichigo screamed, “AAAAH!” and fell back with a scramble, catching himself on the seat of the toilet so that he didn’t fall in and thankfully ducked down so that he couldn’t see the jarring reflection of that stranger anymore…but…WHAT THE HELL WAS GOING ON?!

            Outside of the bathroom Tier and Nel had come down to figure out what their pal’s malfunction was.

            Nel looked at Tier, who shrugged and rolled her eyes opening the bathroom door which hadn’t been locked. They saw him cowering on the toilet and shaking as he stared forward in a stupor. “Are you on acid or something? I know those parties get you fucked up but this is ridiculous.” This was Tier talking.

            Nel stood there looking worried.

            Ichigo turned his head shakily toward the girls who’d barged in and wondered why they were so comfortable doing that, “Uh… Uhhh…” he couldn’t make words but Ichigo started to realize from the unintelligible sounds that his voice was quite deep for its usual.

            “He’s on drugs,” Nel confirmed.

            “Yeah but which one,” Tier prodded as they kept staring at their friend on the toilet from the open doorway. “Do you remember what you took?” The blonde was talking to her whacked out pal on the toilet now.

            Ichigo was too confused to answer and just stared back, trembling and barely breathing, which wasn’t a help to the situation.

            Tier sighed irritably and tilted her blonde head. “Earth to Grimmjow…what did you take?! Do you remember?”

            Ichigo blinked his eyes at being called a name. “Grimm…jow?” he parroted dumbly. Who…was that?

            Some of the other residents were complaining of them taking too long hanging out by the bathroom for this. Other folks had to use the toilet and shower too! The women had to do something about their friend.


	2. Ichigo

** Two Lives **

_A fanfiction written by FicticiousDelicious._

 

**Chapter 02 – “Ichigo”**

Might sound strange but today I woke up and I just…wasn’t me anymore. Maybe I’ve actually gone crazy.

 

            “Mmmmrrrrmmnn…” Grimmjow rolled over on a massive bed stretching under some silk sheets and extremely comfortable with his face up against an overly-fluffed pillow covered in the same silk. He wouldn’t have roused from this nearly so early but the automatic blinds over some floor to ceiling windows were scheduled to roll back and revealed the sun. He moaned happily, almost wanting to just go back to sleep because he was so pleasantly warmed, but the brightness got his eyes to flutter open.

            Yawning he sat up in the covers and did a stretch, scratching at his body too. In his sleepy haze he squinted…he couldn’t see well…what the fuck? In what he figured was just the last of sleepy haze Grimmjow rubbed his eyes with both hands and realized that everything close up was clear but things far away were… _fuzzy_ … He even tried using the- Silk?! Grimmjow brought the covers up close to his face and fingered the material with a thoughtful rub of his thumbs and fingers under it. So smooth…but he didn’t own silk sheets!

            He started to come of the mind that this was definitely not his bedroom. _‘Who’d I bang to get here..?’_ his thoughts rattled, looking to the side of himself but seeing no one in the bed next to him. Grimmjow pulled the pleasing covers back to get out of the bed and slid to the edge. Hold the phone…he was wearing a goddamn jockstrap over his junk and a white t-shirt…he _never_ dressed like this. What the fuck was going on?! Grimmjow stood up and called out, “Hello?!” This wasn’t funny even if they were fucking with him in good humor…initial and literal fucking was fine but like this was just annoying.

            No one replied.

            The slightly irritated man rolled his eyes around still trying to figure out why he was having such a hard time seeing. He rubbed his eyes again and it still didn’t help, so next his hands fumbled for his cellphone on a nightstand beside the bed but he found someone else’s phone and a pair of glasses instead. Hah! Well that was something. Reading glasses helped people when they had trouble seeing right? Putting them on and picking up the stranger’s cellphone his vision sharpened up perfectly. Woah. _‘Didn’t know these things worked so well.’_ Grimmjow tried to snoop through the phone to see who he was dealing with. It was locked…fingerprint locks. Of course it was fucking locked. Damnit…but it was ten o’clock in the morning from the numbers on the front. The lock-screen picture was that of an enormous glass building with…whatever those needles were called that stuck up from their tops. Not much of a clue.

            With an irritated sigh he put down the phone and his eyes rose to a pristinely white and silver themed bedroom. It was _huge!_ …and the windows were enormous- Ah! The sight outside of those windows! Grimmjow walked swiftly up to one of the glass panes and peered out with an astonished expression. He was up in a building that was at least a hundred stories and gazing out over the gleaming city he lived by. “Holy shit…” He didn’t notice that his voice was higher than usual. Now he really wanted to know who he’d gotten into bed with for this to happen but…morning wood called and he left the window to walk across a polished white-wood floor to find the bathroom. Out a glass door and down a quiet hall with white walls and expensive but elegant decorations Grimmjow’s jaw was scarcely off of the floor as he looked around the pristine flat he’d woken up in.

            Further down the hall a bathroom door was open and easily recognized so he walked right in, a little wary of maybe catching his one-night stand unawares in the shower but no. There was no one in here. The door shut with a firm ‘clack’. Grimmjow’s eyes almost hurt to look around but he couldn’t help himself. White marble…polished everything…gleaming metal and glass or crystal…this damn bathroom was a piece of art just like the rest of this place, and this was definitely the most lavish lap of luxury he’d ever walked through.

            Approaching the perfectly clean toilet and lifting lids he pulled the jockstrap item down and realized that there was no hair down there and his piercing was gone… When the fuck had he shaved? Maybe this rich cat had asked him to and he’d taken the ring out while they did their thing last night… Stranger things had happened. Also a subconscious feeling that his manhood was a different size than he was used to vaguely nagged at him. Grimmjow finished and flushed. He didn’t have anything else to wear right now so the jockstrap went back up and the man exhaled, relieved. Having a look at the shower, surrounded by etched glass walls with silvery metal linings, he got another thought quickly and figured they wouldn’t care if he helped himself to the facilities. After all, he should get the after-sex funk off before saying good morning to perhaps avoid getting the boot back outside if the resident here was offended.

            One steamy and relaxing shower later and Grimmjow stepped out now wondering when he’d had the time to shave the entire rest of his body because he was hairless as a mole rat. He popped those glasses back on right away out of the shower and wiped the steam from their lenses because for some reason he was still just having so much trouble seeing without them. Now…where the fuck were his clothes?

            A huge full-length mirror over the marble counter where the sink was across from the shower greeted the man not a step further than the shower and Grimmjow’s eyes went wide as a naked stranger stared back at him.

            The man blinked and looked down at himself, flexing his hands and turning his limbs around to look for his tats. They were gone! He hadn’t really thought about that before but they’d fucking disappeared! What in the actual fucking fuck was going on?! Grimmjow jerked his head back up with a welling dumbfounded-ness. That reflection though, and he knew that was him because it moved exactly like him as he tested it by waving a hand, but didn’t even look like him in the _slightest!_

            This was some orange-haired, round-faced, glasses-wearing, baby-face and fair-skinned pretty _fuck-boy!_ Skinny as a rail too! Not himself, not even _close!_ “What the fuck happened?!” the extremely alarmed man yelled at nothing. If that was a trick mirror… He plucked a hair off his head. It was definitely orange. Grimmjow’s eyes shot back up at the reflection that he did not recognize, staying back from the mirror just in case it was evil. This was wrong…this was just _so wrong_. Now he pinched himself – a last resort. That didn’t change _anything_. Grimmjow’s face twitched and he slowly approached the mirror out of lack of options. He reached forward and touched it. If this mirror was lying…but it wasn’t…he knew it wasn’t…he was just denying… Shaven from nose to toes…no tattoos…and Grimmjow’s fingers fumbled for his many piercings’ holes in his face and ears. Gone! “WHAT IN THE GODDAMN MOTHER-FUCKING HELL IS THIS?!” He was very inclined to punch that mirror.


	3. The Musician

** Two Lives **

_A fanfiction written by FicticiousDelicious._

 

**Chapter 03 – “The Musician”**

Two lives. One amok.

 

            Ichigo was sitting on a chair at a table in the kitchen of a house that many people shared with his bare feet pulled up, knees to his chest and rocking back and forth nervously.

            Tier stared at the man from across the table. “Well at least we know that he’s not overdosed.” Of course, because if he was he’d be dead by now, and Grimmjow wasn’t known for overdosing, just getting severely fucked up a step short of overdose.

            Nel was across the kitchen at the stove cooking breakfast for everyone as she enjoyed doing. She looked back at the few of them gathered around the table and sighed sadly. “But he looks so _uncomfortable_.”

            “Nothing to do for it except wait for it to wear off,” Tier was much more apt at coping with these sorts of things apparently. “We’ll call paramedics if we need to.”

            “Don’t do that…” Also sitting at the table, Renji was drinking coffee and frowning at the conversation, Hisagi had gone off to shower else the attractive fellow would be on his lap right now. Renji’s attitude was as fiery as his hair and he’d seen more of intoxicated Grimmjow than anyone ever should. “He should fucking lay off the drugs. This is why we can’t have him do more in the band. He’s unreliable as hell.”

            Tier shifted her eyes irritably toward Renji and chided, “Sex, drugs and heavy metal…and you’re no snowflake exception to any of it so lay off.”

            “Eeeeeeh…” Renji waved her off. “Whatever.”

            Knowing that what Renji was saying was actually true it didn’t help to bring it up right now, but Tier wasn’t easily goaded into arguments and just settled down after that, gratefully receiving a mismatched mug of microwaved tea from Nel as breakfast was coming around nicely. “So who’s going to take him to get new strings then?”

            Speaking of Grimmjow not being able to function… “Not it,” Renji piped glaring at Tier. He just didn’t rub salt in by elaborating but he was tired of this. On top of that Renji kept staring at Tier expectantly. If she wanted to be so understanding then _she_ should take responsibility.

            “Don’t look at me like that, you know I have to go model for the album cover. We’ve only got a few days to redo it. Starrk said we can’t print the first one, too controversial, and we all agreed that some boobs on the front would help our sales because they’ll never argue with my chest.” Even if there was going to be a strip across her nipples. Tier was looking forward to it a little but their photographer-photo-editor was going to crop her face out of the frame and put a very faded picture of the whole band across the design so that they were all on there…however the marketing plot was that luscious boobs would get a viewer’s attention first. They were trying to impress a label which they wanted to sign with and that label cared if there were religious symbols on their album art but they didn’t give a shit if there were bare boobs. Figure that.

            Nel sighed softly, “I can take him…” By nature she knew that no one else would want to and every time Grimmjow got strung out on some weird drugs she felt bad for him because he was just self-medicating. An unlikely part of their scene, Nelliel had come from a classical music background, but when her parents died in a huge fire that burned their house to the ground her nasty aunt and uncle were scheduled to take her in and she didn’t tolerate that for a second. She’d self-medicated until they’d found out and took her stuff away. Tier was Nel’s best friend since high school and that’s who Nel had run to when she’d run away from her miserable relatives. Nelliel Tu, symphonic instrumentalist and backup vocalist.

            Tier was from a family that she didn’t care to remember but they’d sure been abusive and poor. She wouldn’t face the fate that they did, living as nobodies with no skills or noteworthy accomplishments, but a life like that had taught her to appreciate the little things and the moments life gave. When Nel came to her with a bag of stolen jewelry and money from wealthy relatives they’d bolted. Never looked back. Tier Harribel, vocalist and screamer extraordinaire and percussionist.

            Then there was Renji…Renji didn’t talk about his past. _Ever_. No one knew where he’d come from but judging by his exceptional aversion to prostitutes, as was noticeable because he vehemently howled at his pals for sometimes indulging in that service, that’s what his background seemingly pointed to. Renji Abarai, rad drummer and percussionist.

            Currently out of sight was Renji’s partner. Hisagi. He was much easier to explain. An orphan since he was fifteen, adopted by a boxer who also owned the venue where this band of theirs played usually. It was pretty much their venue by now, and the owner was fine with that – he earned a nice cut from shows. Not a terrible or super hard life Hisagi was one of the more understanding and tame personalities crammed into this house. Hisagi Shuuhei, lead guitarist and sometimes synthesizer support and bass.

            Everyone here had their own highly unique story though. _Everyone_.

            Not the man he seemed to be Ichigo was still sitting on the kitchen chair rocking back and forth, barely able to recognize that people were talking around him. They all saw a different man on the surface but there was another mind in there.

            There was a stomping and a tall, skinny man with an angry expression burst out of the door to the basement. “First y’all hog the bathroom! Now ya use the microwave and trip the breaker downstairs!”

            Nel blinked at the microwave as she’d realized it had stopped working along with all of the power in the kitchen. That was a ‘tiny’ mistake, but hardly noticeable when all she was doing right now was just whisking eggs in a bowl and using no electronics. “Oops…”

            “I wondered why my tea was a little lukewarm…” Tier looked down in her cup.

            “Oops?! Yer lucky I’m workin’ on a laptop!” This new arrival’s name was Nnoitora. He’d come off of some farm in a whole other province and moved into this downtown area to make better money. He was also the owner of this house. When the band found him he was first selling musical equipment at a store that they frequented. ‘Rather be playing and recording the instruments than selling them’ he’d always said…and now he got to do both. Nnoitora Gilga, keyboardist, synthesizer wiz and studio recorder extraordinaire. He was a huge part of the reason they’d been independently recording for the past few albums.

            Drawn by the noise, the last two members in the house came up the hall beside the kitchen and walked up close. One stopped beside just short of the lenolium flooring with a grumble. “Man. You’re all are noisy as hell… Stop it.” Starrk. Coyote Starrk, and he’d just rolled out of bed. Impressive bedhead. He was the manager of this band of misfits and previously a debt collector. He was the other major reason that their band was independent, but that had to change in the near future because there wasn’t enough money to go around. His face was always a half-dazed ‘fuck with me not’ expression, not a man to be crossed but a great friend to have. He immediately noticed their bassist’s fetal position as the sky-haired man rocked upon a chair in front of the table. “What the _fuck_ happened to him?”

            A lean woman, Starrk’s fraternal twin named Lilynette or just Lily, walked past him and slapped Starrk on the arm roughly as she meandered into the kitchen and stole a piece of toast that Nel had already cooked and was probably for someone else. Starrk had rudely kicked Lily out of her own bed when he’d been awoken. Probably out of spite. They shared a room because there was no extra space elsewhere. So Lily had just woken up too and she was a little cranky and hungry. The two siblings were all each other had before this band. Lily wanted to go to art school but that meant paying her way. She helped Nnoitora record and sometimes designed their tantalizing merch. “The hell are we talking about?” It took her a second longer but Lily noticed their wacked out bassist eventually.

            In a body he really didn’t want to be in, Ichigo’s shock was reaching a point of hopeless acceptance and he looked up from his knees to realize that several people were staring at him all in concern or anger. “What in christ’s sake is everyone looking at?!” When they didn’t stop staring he bolted from the table with a clatter of the chair and ran back upstairs to get to the room he’d come out of and just hide. He didn’t get that far. SMACK! Then two thumps on the upper level.

            Hisagi fell over in front of his and Renji’s shared bedroom and his friend who’d collided with him, like a driver who didn’t believe in brakes, was on the floor too. Both were twitching and groaning in pain.

            Renji jumped up defensively when he heard a groan that he recognized from Hisagi and bolted up the stairs.

            No one else made a move to go up there. Stranger morning than usual with Grimmjow strung out like this… Apparently the only one who didn’t understand who he actually was, was the blue-haired man himself… But that wasn’t really him! Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. Bassist and sometimes rhythm guitarist of an established heavy metal band called Dragona.

            At the scene unravelling quickly Starrk threw his hands up. “Ok! Well this is looking shit-stupid. Sober him up by _six_. We’re eating dinner with a promoter tonight and he can’t be a fucking mess.”


	4. The Entrepreneur

** Two Lives **

 

_A fanfiction written by FicticiousDelicious._

 

**Chapter 04 – “The Entrepreneur”**

Two lives. One luxurious.

 

            Digging around the entire luxury flat Grimmjow at first went searching for anything to identify this place and who the hell he might be stuck in right now; this was not the typical way he got stuck in anyone, and this seemingly inescapable situation was pissing him off! The man’s rabid search for clues was cut short by going through more and more things and starting to realize that all of these expensive possessions weren’t so bad…

            What if he stayed like this? Rich as a king, doing…uh…whatever the fuck it was that this guy did or whatever the fuck he thought this guy should be doing. He’d miss his music but he’d be rich. Grimmjow was already accepting of the occult-ish idea that something was trying to punish him for being a hellion and a slut by slapping him into a body that was so opposite of his usual self that it made him crazy, but hell this rich life was _not_. The only thing which plagued him was the idea of having to explain his situation to his band and friends. ‘Excuse me guys but I’ve turned into the prettiest fuck-boy you’ve ever seen but can I still play bass?’ just didn’t seem like something he’d get away with. If it was the only thing he could do…he supposed he could just get his tattoos and piercings redone and make it work in this body. The fuck had the guy he was stuck in gone? The soul or whatever. If this was actually a real person and not some simulation of a life.

            Grimmjow abandoned his search for now, though he’d torn apart half of the flat already, and just stayed where he was right now…at the revolving closet. Irritably he pushed the thick rimmed glasses, that this guy seemed to need to see, up as high on his nose as they’d go. In this man’s richly stocked wardrobe there was a little bit of everything. Grimmjow dug through the clothes, expensive suits by the dozens, trousers, and shirts studded and designed with class. So many rich materials and shoes in racks below the clothes that’d put the shining sun out of business with their gleam. _‘Fuck sakes.’_

            Now how would a fuck-boy dress? Wait no- Grimmjow grinned up at the vast wardrobe selection. How would _he dress_ if he had a million dollars in a closet? A bit of a fantasy of his come true, it couldn’t hurt to indulge… A half an hour later, the longest it had ever taken Grimmjow to dress himself when stage makeup wasn’t involved, and the man was standing in front of a full-length mirror that rolled shut over the closet and admiring his new look. In a sharp black suit that was tailored to be tight, a red shirt below it that was unbuttoned he let a tie dangle fashionably undone around the back of his neck and admired himself. With hands in silk-lined pockets and some sharp black dress shoes which had precious gems studding their sides on his feet, Grimmjow _still_ felt that his reflection was missing something… It wasn’t gaudy enough.

            On his earlier scrounge for clues he had stumbled upon a collection of jewelry and it was just about as extensive as the closet. Gold. Silver. Diamonds. Fancy watches. Precious stones. Pearls. Styled into countless types of bracelets, necklaces, earrings, cufflinks, tie clips and watches. Everything he’d need! Grimmjow slammed on a silver watch with a big face of crystal and diamonds and pearls then picked up every thick silvery ring he could find and stuffed them on his fingers. Two fistfuls, a ring to almost each finger. He clipped diamond and silver cufflinks into the ends of his shirt sleeves. Pity he couldn’t dangle anything from his face or ears- Oh wait…hold up. He felt one piercing hole on this guy’s right lobe and managed to get a diamond stud in there. Maybe a necklace too for good measure…he found a cross on a thick chain and modified it a little, turning the cross upside down and dawned that last piece of silvery jewelry and plotted his way into the bathroom coolly to fuck with this carrottop’s hair.

            Gazing at his rich figure with a smug expression, that really didn’t belong on such a sweet face as this rounded and precious one he was forced to wear, Grimmjow looked cocky as sin. He decided to roll up the suit and shirt’s sleeves with no regard for creasing them. The cufflinks had to come out. The clothing was lucky he hadn’t taken a pair of scissors to it yet to make it look like his other stuff. “Now all I need are some fucking gold teeth,” he joked at his reflection. Then he could be a golden calf and have people kiss his feet. Grimmjow chuckled darkly. He wasn’t serious about the gold though, he hated the color. Silver and black were much more his style. The man was distracted from himself and glanced at a lone black pencil of some kind on the marbled bathroom counter which he’d not even seen until now. It looked like makeup. He hadn’t put that there. Extremely out of place, he picked it up and his hand got a strange painful zing and dropped it immediately. “Augh…” Grimmjow rubbed his palm. The words ‘I’m sorry’ rang in his head repeatedly, but why? Ignoring it Grimmjow now rubbed his head and washed his face off with water, spiking the orange hair he had to work with.

            Who the fuck was this guy anyway…he was wondering that again as he stared at his face. Grimmjow was a crazy man, but he was nothing close to stupid thanks to drugs not yet having melted that organ… _yet_ , so he wanted to figure this out and with enough digging he knew that he could. He left the bathroom and went to get that cellphone off of the bedside table again. A cellphone was a really personal piece of equipment and if it was anything like his own phone this guy’s had very person shit stored in it.

            Standing by the disheveled bed of silk he guessed which finger would unlock its fingerprint passcode. The index finger? Press down and… The lock screen shifted to a wall of apps and it looked like text messages were already open. _‘Easy…’_ He read through this guy’s slim amount of texts. None of them were personal, all about business dinners and meetings and shit. Grimmjow was getting pissed off, starting to think that he’d found this guy’s separate work phone. He scrounged in the pictures. “He~ello beautiful…” there were lots of pictures of a woman with orange hair and this man in different places around the city. Grimmjow kept scrolling. Some pictures for business with handshaking and boring shit. Disappointed by that he turned to the notepad. Just more business crap! “I bet he doesn’t get laid often like this…” There were absolutely no social media apps on this phone just a huge music library filled with. “Metal?” Music of the metal genre and some genres that closely surrounded it. Huh…even Dragona was on the list. Surprised because he didn’t think rich people like this, with a fru-fru lifestyle, were capable of liking his brand of music Grimmjow grumbled now getting into this guy’s contact list for more information. They barely revealed anything besides the fact that the call log next to it was hugely extensive and there were about a thousand numbers and names in here.

            As he was holding it, Grimmjow realized that there was something slotted into the back of this phone – the authentic leather phone case that it was in. He turned the cellphone over and slid out a couple of black credit cards and a driver’s license. “Ichigo…Kurosaki…” Grimmjow read out, impressed by this man’s age compared to his apparent wealth. Ichigo Kurosaki. Born July fifteen…twenty-seven years old. Brown eyes, ginger, male, five-foot eleven inches and a hundred and forty-five pounds. Yeah that felt about right. This address that the cards all had…he memorized it thinking that had to be where he was at, then put the cards away in the slots again. So now he knew who fuck-boy was! Vaguely…

            Feeling a little tense Grimmjow left the bedside to get into the booze in the kitchen. Leaning on the counter he poured a bottle of hard liquor into a glass after cracking the top open. What to do…what to do now? Grimmjow took a drink from the glass and tapped its rim against his chin. Suddenly the cellphone, which was on the kitchen counter, started to rattle against the stone and ring loudly. It scared him out of all other thoughts, and thankfully he didn’t drop the glass. Grimmjow moved, his drink still in hand and a disapproving squint at the singing phone, to hover over the device while it laid on the counter. Someone was calling it. Oh! The ID picture was that long orange haired woman. Oh well…he could answer a call and pretend to be this guy. Maybe she’d come over for a drink. “Y-ello?” he chimed after swiping the ‘answer’ button at the last second and before retracting his ringed finger. Grimmjow folded his forearms against the cool stone counter as he leaned over and talked down at the phone.

            A sweet voice came through the device which sounded confused at first but urgent. “Kurosaki sir? The meeting! The meeting! It started without you. I don’t think it’s going well, everyone’s angry…”

            Oh shit. So this lady worked with him? This naughty bastard…being such good ‘friends’ with his coworker. Grimmjow was proud of him. With a curling smirk Grimmjow continued talking, “Sweetheart, I can’t help how everyone else is feeling.” Grimmjow’s flirtatious attitude couldn’t help seeping through, he didn’t even try to pretend.

            “But you’re the director...” she sounded so confused now.

            “I’m sorry?” like it was a question. He wasn’t sure about what this guy was in charge of directing but now he knew that he was important. “What would make you feel better, sweetheart?”

            The woman made a worried noise, she also didn’t seem to be interested in reciprocating the term of endearment that he kept using…however she didn’t scold him. “I think you should come quick, before something happens. _Please_. You’re usually so punctual.” Something sounded like angry shouting men in the background of the phone call, one voice after another.

            “Can’t you take care of it while I’m out?” Grimmjow grumped, a little put-off by the less than flirty responses he was getting.

            “I can hold them off for a little while but- but please, please! You have to come in and settle this. I have no right to say much of anything to intervene on your behalf.”

            “Alright! Alright…you push me too hard sweetheart. What’s the address again?”

            “Eh? I-I’ll send it… Thank you.” She hung up quickly, sounding still confused but relieved.

            Tapping his fingers’ rings on the stone counter an irritable Grimmjow stared at the ‘ended call’ screen after said call was hung up. The woman’s name according to caller ID was ‘Orihime Inoue’. She sounded like a gem, but what sort of a business life did this guy even have direction over? All the while Grimmjow was forgetful of what might be happening to his own life…like if say…someone else was living it for him…


	5. Base Bassist

** Two Lives **

 

_A fanfiction written by FicticiousDelicious._

 

**Chapter 05 – “Base Bassist”**

Why do people’s lives get mixed up in each other?

 

            After successfully retreating to the bedroom that he’d emerged from and locking himself in, Ichigo breathed rapidly in a panicked manner. Where was he and what had happened to his nice life?! This place was fucking weird and dirty! He backed away from the concert posters and music sheets taped and stapled to the back of the shut bedroom door and stumbled backward until he sat down forcefully on the edge of what was a makeshift bed. He’d been lucky not to trip again on all of those damn cords running across the floor. This body he was in was _not_ his body, and this life it was involved in was certainly not something he wanted! This den of strange people was alarming!

            On the bed Ichigo realized that his hand was resting next to a used condom that had stayed on the bed when he’d fallen off of it with all of the sheets. The man yanked his hand back and scooted away, in his shift stepping on a bong that was partially sticking out from under the bed which was supported up on cinderblocks… Yanking his foot up Ichigo backed onto the bed and huddled by the window inline with the mattress’s surface and shuddered. Gross…so gross. Distraught and wondering where he was actually at Ichigo turned and pushed blinds apart to look outside. Between lush trees he had a clear view of a city down in a valley beyond this hell house.

            Sadly he barely recognized that city as his own because he’d never seen it from this far away before…

            Ichigo let the blinds snap closed again and picked up the pillow on the makeshift bed and screamed into it with a muffled cry of frustration. The cotton pushed uncomfortably against the piercings on his eyebrows, nose and lips. This was just a bad, bad nightmare! He was having a nightmare! Like his physicians had told him, too much stress breeds problems like hallucinations and he should NOT have eaten that chocolate right before bedtime! Was this scenario really punishment for his late-night snacking though?

            A soft knock on the door and someone tested it to see if it could be opened but no. Still locked. “Grimmjow…don’t you want breakfast?” That was Nel’s voice and she was a little concerned with the way he’d shut himself up in his room like this.

            Looking up from the pillow Ichigo felt a slight happiness in the fact that while this was hell at least one person in this house was polite and sweet. However that slight light in the dark was cut short as he noticed a handful of porn magazines that had been laying under the pillow he’d picked up with ‘x’s drawn across certain girls and men on the crumpled pages and others were circled. Another used condom dropped out of the folds of the pillow and tapped him on the leg. Ichigo yelled and threw the pillow across the room one way and jumped off the bed in the other direction leaving the nasty condom behind with a crash and a shriek. THE WAS HELL. PURE DISGUSTING HELL!

            Nel was on the other side of the door wondering what ballet Grimmjow was practicing for in his presumably drug-induced daylight hallucination, and was starting to think she might just be getting those guitar strings by herself… Maybe it was better that way.

            Ichigo sat in the middle of the floor where nothing but the carpet could touch him and wailed in a loud baritone voice, “I can’t live like this!”

            Nelliel heard that and in alarm she immediately ran up the hall to get Renji and Hisagi who were playing go-fish and smoking on their bed. “He’s gonna kill himself!”

            “WHAT?!” Renji croaked, spitting his cigarette into a cup, wondering where the fuck the context of that comment was coming from.

            Hisagi had just put down a set of cards and stared at Nel wide-eyed.

            “He said so! He ‘can’t live like that’!” She frantically pointed toward Grimmjow’s room.

            Before Ichigo could count to three Renji had kicked in the door and lunged at him.

            Gripping his pal by both muscled arms Renji searched the other man for injuries, weapons, pills or what the fuck ever. Finding nothing Renji stared intimidatingly into the blue of the other pair of eyes. “You didn’t swallow anything did you?!”

            Ichigo swallowed nervously but that was the only thing…his nerves. “N-No…”

            Renji slapped him hard and got up with an aggravated sigh. There was nothing wrong with Grimmjow except himself.

            Ichigo rubbed his sore cheek from that bruising slap.

            “Stop doing this shit!” Renji stormed out of the naturally disheveled bedroom and back to his own.

            Nel peered into Grimmjow’s bedroom at the man on the floor cautiously around the doorframe. “Maybe you should lie down for a bit,” she suggested watching him stay in the middle of the floor rubbing his reddened cheek.

            Still wearing nothing but a pair of boxers on this muscled body Ichigo looked pathetically toward the woman with his face stinging. “I don’t understand what I did…”

            Well he seemed very sober-like now. Maybe Renji’s slap was good for something. However she dang-well knew that drugs didn’t just wear off from a slap. Nelliel came around the corner and sat down on the floor in front of her pal. She took his hands in hers, “Everything is going to be OK!”

            Ichigo felt a little calmer to hear that and appreciated hearing that, no matter how spontaneously it came.

            Looking out for Nel, Tier stopped by Renji and Hisagi’s door and leaned in. “He’s not talking her into a sympathy-fuck again is he?”

            Renji growled, “I dunno.”

            Hisagi shook his head. “He promised he’d never do that again.”

            “That’s why I’m asking…” Tier grumped, rightfully concerned.

            “Shouldn’t you be gone by now?” Renji hissed.

            Tier frowned and left their doorway to walk up the hall. In Grimmjow’s wreck of a room she saw that they were just sitting in the middle of the floor holding hands and talking. “Hey.” She made her male friend flinch and Nel turned around beaming.

            “He’s coming around!” the sea-green beauty chirped.

            Tier swung her hips one way with a hand on them. “Yeah well make sure it’s only that kind of come.” She pointed at the man ahead of Nel. “YOU. Don’t be disgusting.” With a finger shaken back and forth, plainly informing that she’d probably torture and kill him if he was what she considered ‘disgusting’, she left that gem of a warning and moved on - walking away. Tier knew that her sincere threat was more than enough to make Grimmjow’s hair stand on-end.

            Which meant it was a surplus more terrifying to someone with less than half of Grimmjow’s moxie. Ichigo swallowed shakily and gripping Nel’s hands back he leaned in a little closer and whispered to her, “Look…I don’t know if this makes any sense but I’m _not_ myself.”

            Nelliel blinked a couple of times, digesting that. “We all have those days.” She leaned in too and pecked him on the forehead.

            A little surprised by the kiss Ichigo shook it off and just continued to whisper closely with a whimpering sound. “No, you don’t understand…I’m _not_ me…and this isn’t the person you think know… Don’t tell anyone, but you’ve _got_ to help me.”

            Help? Nel hummed a thoughtful sound and kicked the bedroom door closed, which barely shut thanks to Renji. “Ok well don’t tell Tier.” She pulled up the long t-shirt that she was wearing and promptly scooted up, mounting her sat-down friend’s lap without a shred of clothing.

            Help?! Wait! This was _not help!_ Not the kind of help he needed! What kind of person was this guy to have women doing this around him at the drop of a hat?! Before Ichigo could refuse he was smothered by a voluptuous chest and lips and for a change of pace Grimmjow’s body was overwhelmed by someone else’s dominance.

~

            By the time that ended Ichigo’s head was swirling and his hair was even more messed up. There was a hickie the size of a baseball on his throat and he was just sex-dazed enough to be calm. The only thing she hadn’t touched was his lips. Thank god because there were a million uncomfortable rings there. He still didn't know what to think of that one down below...

            Nel patted him on the head as she got her shirt and put it back on. “I’ll get the strings, don’t you worry about it! Just get better.” Cheerfully she scuttled out of the bedroom. Grimmjow was the _best_ and she liked helping him.

            Half wondering what had just happened Ichigo blinked slowly as leaning back against the side of the makeshift bed he stared at the now gaping open door. Whatever they thought he was…he wasn’t even sure that this was real anymore. Vaguely more aware of himself in the coming seconds he turned his head to look at the freshly used condom that had made it onto the pile in the over-crowded wastebasket by a desk…a desk which was falling apart and leaning slightly. Ichigo had never realized that sex could be that fast and still feel good before now. With a light groan he just accepted his fate and tucking his unmentionables away stood himself up, setting the boxers he’d been wearing right on his hips again and wandering to push the jacked-up door shut. He put something up behind it so that it would stay closed and then sat his butt down in the rickety chair in front of the desk.

            Ichigo swore to heaven and hell that he would find out who this guy was and why he was stuck living that man’s hellish and bizarre life. Ichigo opened up the laptop atop the desk’s surface. A note laying inside on the keys said ‘buy smokes’. Great…he also had smoker’s lungs in this body… Crumpling up the note Ichigo tossed it at the wastebasket and it bounced off, landing nearby, then he resumed his quest. Power button pushed, he waited a full three minutes for the laptop to boot and unfortunately was met with a password on the login screen. “Dangit,” he mumbled lowly. Why did this feel rude? Probably because it was someone else’s stuff. Ichigo convinced himself that it couldn’t be helped though. Regardless he tried a couple of stupid passwords to log in like ‘xxxporn’, ‘bigtits’ and finally the most unsurprising and successful one ‘fuckoff’. “Oh you have to be kidding…” Thinking out loud. Ichigo sighed as the computer logged him in. This guy must be a moron.

            The background on the laptop was a naked woman putting a…oh no. NOPE. Ichigo opened a browser before he could think about that picture more. What kind of a moron this base individual had to be… Everything on this portable computer took a while to load but finally Ichigo found an email website that this guy was logged into. The name on the address was funkybassman6969 but no real name was attached…there were just a ton of emails about venues, music news, porn, spam and junk emails from music stores advertising everything from CDs to instruments. He still hadn’t caught onto the fact that this whole group was part of an established band.

            Ichigo tried social media websites. That was much easier, and the first popular website he looked at this guy was logged into… “Grimmjow…Jaegerjaquez…” Ichigo started reading the page and all of its content. Born on July thirty-first. Twenty-nine years old. Around six feet tall. _‘Weight. Heavy…’_ Ichigo’s mind rang, considering the big muscular body that he was in. There were so many pictures of this guy with a bass onstage and with other people that looked just like him fashion-wise. Were these punks? Goths? Or just bizarre people that didn’t care to be labeled… Ichigo knew that there were distinctions, he’d just never had to make them. Now he was getting the feeling that this guy was in a band. The ‘about’ page was hopefully more clarifying. “…likes women…” unsurprising, “…parties, music, booze, dogs, long walks on the beach…” He was skimming but that last one had to be code for ‘sex’, “…hates anything that complains, grapes, pandas, prudes.” What kind of psychopath hated panda-bears? “…born… …raised… …hobbies include smoking, drinking, partying and playing professionally as bassist for Dragona-”

            Ignoring the headache that this body was pressing from lack of nicotine, partially because he didn’t even realize that’s what the headache was from, Ichigo stopped reading and sat back in the chair with a creak and a dumbstruck look on his face. That was a band he knew, and liked _a lot!_ He felt dumb for not recognizing them but he usually just listened to the music and couldn’t see their faces. They’d taken their genre, heavy metal, by storm for the last two albums they’d made and promised to be great talent onward. How…and why?! Why had he fallen into their bassist’s life…now that he knew it was a real life…

            Searching the laptop for where this guy kept his samples and recordings, Ichigo put on a pair of over-ear headphones that had been plugged into the laptop this whole time. He just couldn’t help himself and spent the next hour going through everything on there from unreleased demos to bare bass riffs and other elements and tracks of things he’d heard before and a lot that he hadn’t. It was aweing, this band’s sound… They weren’t just metalheads they were actually musical acrobats, practicing with a ton of different styles, blending them so well with heavy metal and capturing Ichigo’s interest further. Finally, Ichigo stumbled on something anticipated…the list of unreleased tracks for their next album. Should he..? His finger hovered over ‘play all’. How could he not? He loved their music so much and this was some relief from the hell he was stuck in.

            Apologizing to the almighty for being a snoop he eagerly played absolutely every song on the unreleased album, even the deluxe version’s bonus tracks, and it took him to heavy metal heaven. Exhaling Ichigo hung up the pair of headphones on the open device’s corner and stared at the screen in a satisfied stupor. He pinched himself. No effect besides pain. This was not a dream.

            While shut up in the bassist’s room Ichigo didn’t realize that parts of the band, mostly Starrk, were explaining a change in plans for this evening. Starrk thought that he should probably be the only one to talk to the promoter tonight. Deliberation without all ears present.

            Nicotine headache banished because of the pleasing music distracting his mind, in minutes Ichigo remembered himself after listening to the stunning album. He felt so lucky right now, even if this was a hellish and gross pit to live in. He turned on the chair and looked around the messy room and eyed the two guitars, electric and bass, both with missing and snapped strings. This guy must play those really hard to break so many strings. Eyes drifted up to the half-empty book case with what he realized to be just stacks of CDs on its shelves to the many, many posters of great and even legendary metal and rock and alternative bands up on the walls with tape and tacks. Talent could come out of a heap like this couldn’t it? He was just supposing that was realistic. Still Ichigo was surprised, he’d never seen a life like this firsthand. This…this was so _real_. Ichigo started to feel the aura of what made up this one component of the whole band…or at least he thought he could. Still what in the universe had decided that he needed to get his soul jammed into the _bassist’s_ body? Poor phrasing…regardless he still didn’t know why this was the man that the almighty had picked.

            Torn quickly from his attempt to reason why he’d been saddled with this, Ichigo’s focus was drawn to a cellphone that just started chirping somewhere in the room all of the sudden. A phone! Of course! That was bound to have some clues on it! Like a kid chasing a cricket he scrambled, locating it in a pocket of some black and torn-up jeans that smelled like beer and smoke. Removing the phone he had to unlock it to do anything…‘fuckoff’? That had worked before so why not now. _‘‘Fuckoff’ it is.’_ He punched in the code and the phone unlocked. Ichigo quickly realized that the reason for the chirping was a notification for a text message from a woman who seemed to have texted Grimmjow a lot this week. ‘Missed u last night xxxooo’, that was all it said but next to her contact’s name in parentheses it said ‘no dnfa’. Ichigo could only assume what that abbreviation meant but something ‘do not fuck again’. This was hammering into his head how much of a slut this guy probably was. As long as no more women jumped him while he was in this Grimmjow guy’s body Ichigo felt like he could keep his harsh judgements in check.

            About fifty contacts and half of them were female names with comments and ratings next to their names, tons of music and even more porn. Hold on…there was a folder at the bottom of the photos’ gallery that was labeled strangely. ‘Top secret’. There wasn’t anything like that on the laptop…or had he looked hard enough? It was probably more porn or secret music stuff. Ichigo opened the folder with a tap of his thumb’s pad and promptly covered his mouth with one hand suppressing a gasp, while with that thumb he scrolled through hundreds of images and gifs of naked _men_ posing in provocative ways and fucking each other. This was _absolutely_ porn, on a lot of levels, but not the kind of porn that Ichigo suspected to find. Subconsciously he started to feel a little guilt for having gone through this man’s personal cellphone and found a secret like that just so he could hash his own problem out. Sitting there on the floor in front of piles of clothes that should be picked up, and who knew what else under them Ichigo shifted the cellphone between his hands, unsure what to do with it and thinking of what he should do next.

            Unable to help his curiosity, Ichigo went back to the laptop and immediately searched for the same folder. When told that something was a secret the first thing most humans would do is everything they can to learn the secret. The same folder was hidden pretty deep in files on the portable computer but it was in there…and next to it…another mysterious folder called ‘SR’. As he cracked into the unfamiliar ‘SR’ folder Ichigo squinted at the screen and realized that this was an MP3 and document folder hidden in with the main pictures. What the..? He put the headphones back on. What depraved shit was this- Hold on, the titles of the documents and MP3 files…some were Dragona’s songs and even more titles that Ichigo didn’t recognize being anything like the unreleased work he’d found in the normal folders of the computer. He opened a few of the documents and read… _tons_ of lyrics. Ichigo hastily opened corresponding MP3 files and heard someone’s singing matching lyrics in a deep voice that he didn’t recognize. This voice… Ichigo sat back in the chair, it creaked as he relaxed listening to the melodic rumble of this deep voiced singer. “What the hell?” From talking to himself Ichigo heard this body’s voice reverberate in his head and realized something shocking. This was Grimmjow’s voice on these recordings. He hummed a few bars. It was the same! Ichigo’s eyes widened. ‘SR’…self recordings? Ichigo restarted the currently playing MP3 file, a bold song, that he was listening to in hasty realization and listened very closely. They really were the same voice! Holy shit their bassist could sing _and_ write! Why had he hidden his work on his own laptop though? Ichigo’s gut told him something again, that this stuff wasn’t material which Grimmjow really shared with anyone. Not for public consumption.

            Even still he went through more of the recordings and listened with pleasure. He also checked the credits of the albums they’d released and not once was Grimmjow’s name mentioned for anything but ‘bass guitar’. Wouldn’t a talented band like this benefit a lot if Grimmjow contributed these talents to them? It was likened to an ace in the hole. Why hadn’t he…and then all too suddenly after many songs Ichigo started to realize that a lot of these songs…were so _somber_ …just edging into enlightening and bitterly realistic. It was beautiful and intense music with great vocalizations and guitar and base with it but the words and meanings were so biting. These lyrics were Grimmjow’s soul. Maybe it was a somber and depressed soul just facing demons however worked best at the time and struggling with his reality and he was quietly preaching it… This kind of stuff _would_ be hard to use…not because it was unfitting for heavy metal, most of that shit was dark angst anyway, but this material was just so personal and heavy; it would be hard for the maker to share. Ichigo’s guilt for going through Grimmjow’s belongings pegged. He took a deep breath and closed the laptop. It was getting dark, he’d been at this for hours and felt tired and sorry for what he’d nosed around in. The private songs were still revolving through his head like the loaded spinning chamber of a gun. When did it stop? When did it click into place and fire what it had at the world? Or did it just keep spinning and never express its purpose?


	6. Blackmail Worthy

** Two Lives **

 

_A fanfiction written by FicticiousDelicious._

 

**Chapter 06 – “Blackmail Worthy”**

Mixed like a stew, hot and hearty with heaps of flavor as different elements come together.

 

            Grimmjow almost lost his mind. A fucking _sportscar_ …this guy owned a hundred thousand-dollar _sportscar!_ Pleased with this new discovery Grimmjow twirled the handful of keys he’d brought with him out of the flat, and boy was that glorified apartment huge! Half of that whole floor was this guy’s own personal living space… _his_ too, for the time being. Now a sexy car to go with it…hell yeah. Smartly Grimmjow had used the alarm to find the car in the parking garage for all of the residents in this tall complex and the man was about to bust a nut if he stood outside just staring at it any longer, but as he unlocked it another man came jogging up.

            Out of breath this pink-haired and lean man tried to catch that lost breath as he got over to the car. “Sir! I’m sorry…I thought you had…cancelled your meeting…” Gasps in between words. The new face straightened up and adjusted his neat uniform suit nicely once his breath was back which only took a couple minutes to recover from.

            Grimmjow looked him up and down with a hostile once-over. “The fuck do you want?”

            The pink-haired man seemed surprised. “Why I’m here to drive you to your meeting, that or…wherever you need to go. Szayelaporro, you-”

            A chauffer?! “Oh no, no pal. Not when I’ve got this to drive you ain’t. You can ride bitch if you want.”

            “I beg your pardon?!” Szayel croaked, on the verge of being offended.

            “Eh fuck it. Take the day off.” Grimmjow shook his head irritably as he got into the driver’s side without closing the door just yet. “I told ya to get lost, pink!” The door shut.

            Standing back Szayel slowly started to walk away from the vehicle. “Why I’ve never…” he grumbled and vanished to the ominous place from which he’d come.

            Grimmjow checked to make sure that the guy was actually gone. He used the key to turn the sportscar on and its engine came alive with a rumble that was pleasantly steady, dripping with underlying power. “Oh _fuck_ yeah…” he remarked with a wild grin at the thrill of this. Now…didn’t this guy’s phone have a whole bunch of music on it? _His_ kind of music none the less? Bet this ride had a bangin’ stereo to play it on… Grimmjow took the cellphone out of his pocket and unlocked it, pairing it with the wireless stereo system in the car then going into the music folder he selected one of the bands that he was familiar with. Screeching guitars, obnoxious bass and all of the screaming, growling vocals that he so loved filtered through distortion filled the space in the car. Again with a grin uncharacteristic of the pretty face he had, Grimmjow reversed the sportscar and peeled out of the parking space and through the garage like a man possessed. Once Grimmjow was out of the parking garage and on the street he got even crazier, hauling ass through every lane, light and turn that he could without a lot of regard to those around him. He had never had so much fun with someone else’s stuff. “Fuck yeah! This is great!”

            Surprisingly he arrived at destination ‘work’ in one piece, remembering on his joyride that he actually had a specific place to be. Grimmjow put the address that sweet Inoue lady had texted him into a map system and studied it while he’d pulled over for a minute. He was good with city directions and figured out where to go. Shutting the sportscar off in a parking space of another parking garage beside the building that was his destination Grimmjow reflected as the music stopped when the power to the car was cut off. It felt weird. This guy’s musical preferences. This perhaps felt so weird because Grimmjow still didn’t imagine rich people with pristine white homes, silk sheets and sportscars to be genuine fans of _his_ kind of music. It just seemed so…impossible. He’d never heard of such a thing. Grimmjow got out and locked up, walking away toward an elevator with a cocksure stride. He still didn’t know exactly what this ‘Ichigo Kurosaki’ did for a living but he would find out and roll with it if it meant getting to keep this life for a while. He felt like a king.

            By the time that Grimmjow arrived on his appropriate floor, which was hard enough to figure out until he asked around, the unprofessionally dressed man strolled into a fancy meeting hall’s lobby where there were a couple of women sitting behind a fine wooden desk and some big glass doors next to them. That desk wasn’t nearly as fine as the ladies working it… Grimmjow walked up and folded his forearms on the other side, peering over his glasses with a horribly charming smile. “You must be Orihime, sweetheart,” he remarked to the woman with long orange hair as they both looked up. His eyes slid from the orange-haired beauty, who seemed shocked, over to a sassy golden-eyed woman… Purple hair and chocolate skin, “I don’t remember you but I’d-”

            “Are you intoxicated Mister Kurosaki?” the dark-skinned woman asked without a shred of shock. Steady and bold.

            “Like drunk? Absolutely not, angel.” These pick-ups were as bad as the ones he should have replaced on his electric guitar…because they just didn’t work.

            The fearless woman folded her delicate and manicured hands under her chin and gazed up at him with those huge golden eyes of infinite calm. “Then walk your sober-ass into that meeting hall, sugar. You’ve got business other than me to take care of.”

            Shot. Down. Spectacularly so. Slowly Grimmjow leaned up off of the desk watching the sassy woman’s eyes without blinking. He had wood. That was fucking bold. The nameplate just above one of her breasts read ‘Yoruichi Shihouin’. He would remember that name…

            Yoruichi was a woman who’d left a life that could have been basic and charming as a waitress for her family’s restaurant, however her stepbrother Urahara had taken over so that she could focus on things that she actually wanted. She was beautiful, unbreakable and smart as a whip. She worked here helping with secretary duties part-time and the rest of her time was spent at an art gallery.

            Orihime giggled in her place beside the other secretary. Yoruichi always had the funniest things to say. Orihime Inoue was Ichigo’s personal assistant. She juggled college and work with optimism and unbridled willpower that fed off of the positive energy. She was a sunbeam to anyone who was nearby and sensitive.

            Eyeing the two women without giving up his cool Grimmjow walked off without another word. He was half-wary of what Yoruichi would say to shut him up next if he opened his mouth again. You didn’t push it with women like that…you just didn’t. Walking to the large glass doors Grimmjow noted a _lack_ of yelling like had been in the background of the phone call and a definite _lack_ of bodies in the attached meeting room. He stood by the entrance as the glass door closed behind him and a lone brunette in a black business suit, proper attire, sat at the head of a long meeting table in a chair alone looking over when his solitude was interrupted. What had happened to all of the bickering voices he’d heard in the background of the phone call?

            This smartly dressed brunette noticed his director’s unprofessional appearance and said nothing of it, surprisingly. “Don’t worry, I took care of it,” the brunette chimed with a smile that dawned only on his lips.

            Immediately deciding that he didn’t like the sly way that this man talked Grimmjow crossed his arms and drummed one of his hand’s ringed fingers against his arm. “Oh? And how’d you do that?”

            The brunette started to get up and walked toward his director with a sinister yet sane disposition and stopped just beside the other man, clapping him on the arm in a would-be friendly manner. “I sent them home so that no one’s time would be wasted, most of all your own.”

            By the time that hand fell away Grimmjow had decided he didn’t like this guy _even more_. “If you think you’re calling the shots here you’ve got another think coming. Tell my people what to do one more time when it’s supposed to be me sorting things out and you’ll be f-i-r-e-d.”

            “Oh…I don’t think you want to do that,” the sinister brunette countered…and brushed the back of his knuckles on one hand against his director’s hip intentionally.

            Glaring to the side Grimmjow stiffened…and not in the woody way.

            The brunette winked and then walked out, the glass door closing behind him and leaving the other man standing in there alone.

            As soon as the door closed, and Grimmjow knew it had because he’d heard it click, he shook his limbs and shuddered. Sick… That brunette dude was fucking evil. Maybe this life wasn’t as easy and rich as he’d thought it was… That guy was just really lucky that he wasn’t himself one-hundred percent because his ass would have been knocked-out for getting handsy. Shaking off the residual of the unpleasant encounter at least he didn’t have to settle a meeting for a company or organization or whatever that he knew nothing about. Could have been worse! The glass was half full. Turning around Grimmjow peeked out of the meeting room doors, tipping his head both ways to make sure that the dude who’d just sexually harassed him was actually gone. He was gone.

            Orihime noticed her boss being weird and peeking out of the meeting room cautiously. “What are you doing Mister Kurosaki?”

            Yoruichi glanced over too. First he’d flirted with them now this…he was being really weird today. “You’re like a different person today, sir.”

            Straightening the glasses on his face Grimmjow cleared his throat and stepped fully out of the meeting room, rebalancing the still untied tie around the back of his neck. “Yeah well I feel a little different. What the fuck is that guy’s problem anyway…”

            Yoruichi looked surprised. “Mister Aizen is probably trying to spite you for telling him to keep his nose out of your management. I apologize for knowing that but when you’re shouting at him in your office it’s hard not to hear such things, sir.”

            Orihime giggled.

            He was surprised that the fuck-boy had a ‘loud’ setting, but suppose it had to be so if he maintained a whole…whatever important thing this was. One _had_ to be the boss, not everybody’s friend, even Grimmjow, who was from such a far-removed world, understood that kind of thinking. “Well fuck him then…and if you really want to apologize…” He sauntered over to the fine wooden desk again with both hands in his pockets. “…let’s all three pretend like it’s Friday and get a drink. There’s nothing more important than your satisfaction on my mind right now.”

            Yoruichi looked at Orihime and Orihime stared back at her with wide eyes. “I love drinks,” the orange-haired and busty beauty admitted with a bubbly laugh.

            Yoruichi’s eyes transitioned back up to her boss with a roll and a fair stare in her gleaming golden eyes. “I suppose I love drinks too… You’ve got yourself two dates, sir.”

~

            Several glasses of wine and hard liquor later, and after _lots_ of fun messing up the flat’s silken bed, Grimmjow was gazing at the ceiling and the dimmed lights in the huge bedroom. On his right was an angel and on the left a temptress. He exhaled a long, satisfied sigh. Life was good.

            Yoruichi sat up first and leaned to patted the man beside her on the head.

            Orihime followed with a kiss on his cheek. They were both getting up.

            As Grimmjow sat up among the silken covers the women were already pulling on their clothes. “Hey where you two going?” he teased, leaning back against the head of the bed where there were pillows to support his back. Cushy life.

            “Your ass is crazy if you think I can sleep here. As amazing as that was I do have two jobs and one comes early tomorrow.” Yoruichi smoothed her skirt and buttoned her shirt, tucking it into her classy skirt’s rim.

            Getting into her own clothing still Orihime bounced, well her and her boobs, as she wiggled back into her skirt. “And I have to feed my cats!” Her flowy shirt was easier to put back on.

            “What about a ride? I’ll drive you two.” Grimmjow was a horny mess but he tried to be polite on some level.

            “I’ll make sure that she gets home. Thank you though,” Yoruichi assured, fluffing her purple locks’ volume into an orderly mass with herself properly assembled.

            “Are you alright with that?” Grimmjow’s eyes shifted to the orange-haired woman.

            “Oh absolutely!” Orihime had just finished with her clothing and patting her hair down smoothly then bowed politely toward him because he was still her boss and all. “Goodnight Kurosaki sir!”

            Grimmjow got off of the bed and pulling on a designer robe and some abominable loafers he walked them to the door with Yoruichi’s assurance several times over that they’d be fine and she’d get a cab. Once the flat door shut the man slunk away grinning. Beautiful women…and doing the both of them in one night? Now that was his kind of fun. Grimmjow had no regard for how tangled he might be making this other man’s life if said man should actually return to it. He walked by the kitchen counter to put the rest of the wine and hard liquor away and noticed some CDs he’d brought up from the sportscar laying where he’d left them on that same counter. Grimmjow stared down at a case for his own band’s first album right in the middle of the pile with a gaze that became thoughtful. That life he actually owned was far away…


	7. Collide

** Two Lives **

 

_A fanfiction written by FicticiousDelicious._

 

**Chapter 07 – “Collide”**

All dreams and nightmares have a beginning and an end.

 

            Ichigo’s eyes opened slowly and he yawned and stretched, spreading out across the smoothness of his silky bed. He recognized its feel immediately. Smiling broadly all of his braincells agreed at the same time that it was good to be home… Home?! Ichigo sat bolt upright and looked around. He couldn’t see! Glasses… He fumbled at his bedside for them and eventually grasped them. Glasses went on face and he sighed happily, looking around at his orderly and lavish bedroom where the automatic curtains were sliding back to reveal the sun earlier than usual. It was easy to tell by the earlier position of the sun. Had he changed their timing? Ignoring that minor weirdness Ichigo continued to enjoy waking up in a large, comfortable and _clean_ bed with no gross used condoms in sight. He looked at his arms…no tattoos or thick arm hair, then reached up and patted his shorter and more neatly cut hair which could sure go for a wash but it was _his_ hair and he was happy to have it back. Ichigo was still not aware that someone had been _using_ his body for an entire day prior…

            Reaching for his phone next Ichigo looked at the time and smiled. It was still early and- He _thought_ that he could just have breakfast and then off to work! Just like normal…but there were a couple of missed texts which he unlocked his phone to read. One from Yoruichi? She never talked to him outside work. ‘Even if you were drunk it was a nice night. thanx’ it read. Ichigo’s senses all pricked up in alarm at the same time. What did that mean?! He frantically scrolled to the next one from…Orihime…oh no. ‘Thank you for a wonderful night, I’m home safe, just if you were wondering!’ it read. Ichigo started to freak out, sweating bullets. What did they _both_ mean ‘last night’?! Ichigo ripped the covers off and tripped over himself getting out of bed. It was a miracle how he hadn’t broken his face on the white-wood flooring.

            Hauling himself back up he tightly gripped his phone and ran out of the bedroom, stopping in the hall to see…nothing out of place yet. He hurried up the hall with small worried pants as he looked for clues. The first room he went to was the bathroom. Jewelry left on the bathroom counter. Clothes and towels cast on the floor like rags! Ichigo was ready to pull out his hair. Was that one of his good suits?! Grabbing the clothing first and then the jewelry he frantically searched them for clues of what had invaded his apartment. The obvious still hadn’t quite hit Ichigo’s common sense just yet, he was currently too panicked about someone breaking into his living space when he was typically very safe here. Safe and alone. Solitude made people a bit whacky.

            After putting the clothes and jewelry away Ichigo bolted for the kitchen next and sliding to a stop he realized that there were multiple used glasses left out, way too many for one person. This nail-biting clue made him clench his teeth and make a face like he’d been bitten by something on the leg. Disorder that could span the rest of the flat was bad enough and then reality hit Ichigo like a lead ball. Had he switched places with that bassist?! Not just been crammed into another body! It made perfect sense that that guy’s soul needed somewhere to go, right?! This was occult insanity! Now that really scared Ichigo considering the pleasures that he’d seen that man indulge in. Should he ask for footage?! No…it would only be from the cameras outside the flat and he didn’t want anything that base man had done to affect him any sooner than it had to. Ichigo deeply regretted not having that security pack of cameras installed in his home when he’d bought a few other tech bits like his doorbell and new entertainment system. “AGH! WHY ME?!” Ichigo covered his face with palms and clawed at the edge of his mussed hair.

            As Ichigo started to get some proactive sense back in his head he stomped over toward his computer at a desk in the living room and was about to sit down at it. Just before he did so Ichigo noticed CD cases laying in front of his stereo system that was right beside his computer and desk. His temper sobered a little. These were…the metal albums which he usually kept in the car… Not even getting frustrated that this guy had touched his car too Ichigo started opening the cases one at a time and as he reached one in particular the disc inside was missing. “Dragona.” He opened the CD changer hooked into his stereos. There it was.

            Ichigo sighed quietly and closed the case without putting the CD back in it. Instead he gingerly put the empty case back on the desk and closed the CD changer then turned on the stereo. A finger pushed down on the ‘play’ button. The rich sounds of distorted guitars, aggressive female vocals and an outrageously good beat to the first song filled the whole main room entirely. Ichigo listened closely for the bass, harder to pick out than some of the other instruments. He was still worried about what this guy had done while they’d traded places but he wasn’t angry anymore. He couldn’t be…not at someone who could make this wild kind of music when he had shit for a life. Friends and talent. That’s all that Grimmjow seemed like he had actively going for him.

~

            Grimmjow rolled over in bed with a grunt and a groan. He scratched at his stubbled jaw and body then opened his mouth with a long yawn and his eyes fluttered open as he was now officially awake after what felt like sleepwalking. He realized that he could see perfectly straight away. What a fucking relief. He also recognized his room. Thank fuck. Sitting up he was so tense and sore, brought on by a combination of all the things that his body had been doing without him yesterday, such as skipping every meal and banging Nel…well actually she’d jumped his bones this time but Grimmjow wasn’t the wiser. Ironically this feeling actually compared better to how Tier left him after a romp. His pierced tongue ran over the smooth edges of the rings through his lips. Regardless of how it was good to have himself back. The man rolled his shoulders around, getting in a good stretch as he tried to remember everything from his dream…or had it been a dream? A crazy apartment…flat…whatever it was called, sportscar, meeting, creep…those two women… Hard telling, he’d had some pretty intense dreams before.

            Hearing people walking by his room louder than usual, Grimmjow looked toward his door and saw it ajar with the catchpoint busted… The man squinted. That was strange. Next he started looking around for his cellphone, crawling out of bed to search for it, and finding it exactly where he’d personally left it, in the pocket of those ripped-up jeans on the floor. Staying right there, crouching on the floor he unlocked his phone and quickly looked at the date. There was nothing better to do today than investigate this. The date today was a day over than the last one he remembered here…he had missed yesterday. So what did that mean exactly-

            “Grimmjow for god’s sake, get the fuck out of…bed…” Tier interrupted before the man could get much thought in about his predicament. She rounded the corner of the ajar door, pushing it the rest of the way open, and noticed the man standing mostly naked behind it staring at his phone. “Oh you’re awake. Texting your harpies already?” She quickly noticed a huge hickie on his neck as well as a light bruise on one side of his face. “Nice bruises.” She pointed to herself where she saw them on him.

            Grimmjow looked up with a scowl that faded quickly when he realized what she meant and used the selfie function on his phone to look. Holy shit! No wonder he was so sore. What had happened?!

            “Also glad to see that you’re not strung out on drugs today. You know, Nel went out all by herself and bought your bass and electric strings without even asking for money and you never even thanked her.” Tier drummed her nails against the door panel as Grimmjow took a second to put down his phone. “Don’t you even want to know how the photoshoot went?”

            “Sure.”

            “Terrible. The photographer bailed, and he didn’t give us our money back.” Tier was pretty hostile about this.

            So that was why she’d come in here aggressively. Grimmjow could tell that Tier wasn’t directing it at him. He stood up, stretching his back again, wearing nothing but boxers still – in fact the same ones from yesterday. His thoughts focused and he forgot about his weird yesterday experience for now. “We need that album cover soon and that was three grand for that stupid photographer… Starrk put up the money himself. Is he pissed?”

            “Uh, yeah! The guy bailed with all of it. We have no idea where to find him. We’re s-c-r-e-w-e-d. Screw-”

            “I get it. I get it,” the man interrupted curtly putting his hands up to get her to stop. Grimmjow cocked his jaw and started thinking. What were they going to do? The photographer was important because of his connections. “Maybe Lily can do something.”

            “Sure she could make something but we need it printed and in CD cases. That artist was our only contact to the printer which we didn’t ask him about because he fucking told us he would take care of it.” Tier waved a hand around before seating it on her hip.

            A brief thought went to how many pieces that Starrk would tear that photographer into for bailing dishonestly like this. Lots. Lots of tiny pieces…fed to the fishes. Grimmjow had to let a sigh of irritation out. “Are we planning to postpone the release?”

            “That would make us look sloppy. No one’s sure what to do yet but that’s what we’ll do if we have no choice. If we want to make it though we need an affordable printer at the _least_ to stuff the cases and put the images on the discs.” Tier slid into the room and pushed the door closed, blocking it with the rickety chair from his desk.

            Grimmjow crossed his muscled arms. He’d seen this type of behavior before… He watched her start to peel off her clothes. Grimmjow huffed…he supposed he didn’t mind first thing in the morning. He was stressed out now though. There were never any strings attached to this but he had a lot to think about. Maybe this would clear his head.

            Away from Grimmjow’s bedroom Hisagi was trimming Renji’s hair over a wastebasket in their shared bedroom when loud moans started and furniture knocking against a wall from guess-who’s room kicked up… “There they go again,” the navy-haired man chimed toward Renji.

            Renji clicked his tongue dismissively. “It’s just too casual to be natural.” He was flipping through a music review magazine. “Ah look! We made an article…rather they made an article about us.”

            Hisagi squinted over Renji’s shoulder. “So they did. I don’t like that picture of me…”

            The sex-noises got louder. Renji scowled hard, unable to ignore them now. Listening to straight people fucking was immensely grating.

            Of course Nel and Nnoitora were coming upstairs to see what everyone was up to after the bad news about their album cover not getting done yet came. Nnoitora realized that someone up here was fucking obnoxiously just about the time he reached the top of the stairs. “Ya have ta be kiddin’ me…in the middle of the morning?!” He didn’t need to think hard to figure who…

            Nelliel blushed and giggled. “Grimmjow’s good! He’s _re~eally_ good. It’s hard to stay away from.”

            “Aw sheesh,” Nnoitora covered his face with his palm as they approached Renji and Hisagi’s room. “I thought the guitarist was the one who was supposed ta get laid all the fuckin’ time.”

            Hisagi blinked, “Grimmjow _is_ a guitarist…the bass is guitar.”

            Renji smirked. That brain was why Hisagi was his partner.

            “YA KNOW WHAT I MEAN. The _lead_ guitarist is supposed to be the band slut. Why aren’t you doin’ your job?” Nnoitora snarled with a grin.

            Looking at Nnoitora, Hisagi hugged Renji around the neck affectionately, patting Renji’s tattooed pecs. “I get plenty.”

            Renji was still reading the magazine but he kept smirking. “He does.”

            “Like rabbits…” Nnoitora taunted.

            Nel giggled.

            “You’d know, you hick. You probably watched bunnies getting it on out on that farm like normal people watch porn.” Unable to help being a smartass Renji flipped the magazine’s pages without looking up.

            Nnoitora had no defense ready for that. The sex-noises, especially the furniture hitting the wall were getting on his nerves. “GIVE IT A REST GRIMM!” Somehow the blame always fell squarely on Grimmjow.

            “FUCK YOU!” Grimmjow was heard shouting back through the separation of a door and walls.

            “NO THANKS! BUT I CAN’T HEAR MYSELF THINK!” Nnoitora pushed.

            “TRY NOT THINKING!” Tier shouted just like Grimmjow had.  A few minutes later the sounds stopped and Tier wandered back out, in one of Grimmjow’s long hole-littered t-shirts that had a goblin on it, looking more ruffled than usual. That had been a really good one; always was when Grimmjow had something to be irritated about. Patting Nnoitora on the back as she went by Tier remarked, “Don’t be so mean.” She continued to the bathroom to have a bath or shower and was out of sight before Grimmjow could even show his face.

            Nnoitora clammed up his irritation and anyone else who had similar feelings too. There was a reason why when Tier talked everyone listened. She wasn’t just a bombshell or a vocalist, this woman articulated herself in manner so well that it was exceptionally persuasive, almost charismatic. All and all the whole manner she regularly gave off was usually calm, intelligent and similar to Starrk’s ‘fuck with me not’ appearance. …unless of course you were Grimmjow’s penis.

            Now when Grimmjow emerged, in jeans and a black hole littered tank-top, he got glares from Renji and Nnoitora as he was passing by in the hall but they didn’t say anything. Blue brows went up and he stopped by the gathering at their door. “What?”

            Renji sighed as Hisagi forcibly turned his head toward the magazine again, still taking his time to trim the redhead’s fierce locks. “What he wants to say is that you were a lot of trouble yesterday and we have a big problem to tackle so we’ll need your help. Don’t get high or drunk or anything impairing for the next few days ok?” Aaaah diplomats.

            Renji opened his mouth to remark but it was covered by Hisagi’s hand immediately. Making a disgusted face a second later, Hisagi wiped his hand on Renji’s face when the redhead licked it with a generous amount of saliva to get it removed from his mouth.

            Grimmjow’s eyes shifted between the band members as he moved his tongue’s piercing against the roof of his mouth. They all looked like they doubted that he’d help out so he shrugged and walked off. “I’ll do what I can!” he called going down the stairs. Whatever he could do was exactly nothing, or so he figured.

            This… _this shit_ was a huge part of why Grimmjow’s brilliant musical talents past one instrument that could be easily simulated with a track or a stand-in weren’t part of the music that they made. Some of them did sort of understand that he had more to give but he didn’t share and he regularly shrugged stressful things off or ignored them.

~

            Armed with just a name and some personal details Ichigo was clean and dressed, wearing a soft sweater of a reddish color, the bluest of jeans, some classy black slip-on shoes and one of his best silver watches. Grabbing his cellphone and keys the man was headed for the door. He was going out and taking care of a few things.

            Ichigo marched out into the small hallway out of the flat and to the elevator. Waiting in said elevator for it to descend the many floors it would take to reach the ground, he was unconsciously tapping his foot anxiously. He cursed the moments it would have taken to look at that bassist’s phone number but hadn’t. That made this so much more complicated than it needed to be. Reaching the ground after the elevator doors rolled back Ichigo was surprised to see a very distinct Szayel across the lobby and it looked like his chauffer was talking to…AIZEN?! Oh dear. Not having stepped out Ichigo quickly pressed the elevator’s down button again without being noticed by the two men across the slightly populated lobby. The doors rolled closed. He didn’t typically go straight down to the parking garages but he could make an exception this time. Suppose he was also fine driving himself around for the day too.

            Ichigo walked fast from the elevator to his sportscar and got in, turning the car on and letting it warm up for a minimal amount of time before he pulled forward and- Someone had _backed_ his car into this difficult space?! That wasn’t something which Szayel ever did. It must have been that guy… Ichigo’s thoughts were hard put to flare up in anger, but he did wait to start worrying until he was done focusing on getting out of the parking garage. Once he was out on the street he worried his butt off as he went to a drive-thru coffee shop and bought a latte with cream and a shot of espresso. What the hell was Aizen doing with Szayel?! That was very alarming and Ichigo didn’t like the potential implications one bit.

            Ichigo was currently driving out toward the houses which were downtown…and funny enough ‘downtown’ was actually up on a hill. He was doing this because he remembered looking down on a city, and it was definitely his city now that he knew who that bassist was. Dragona was publicly known to live near this city, which had attracted many other musicians for the profitable scene and excellent venues. Ichigo had done a bit of research and he knew now that this band had a specific venue which a friend of one of the members owned, but they had no announced upcoming concerts so finding them there or the venue open, especially in the daytime, was probably not going to work out. The only place that he could think of that matched his memories was downtown… Now if he could just figure out which house theirs was…

~

            By the front door Grimmjow had put on his studded leather jacket with several ‘clanky’ buckles dangling off of it and the same holey tank top, black jeans with the knees shredded out and some black boots that weren’t laced all the way up to complete his uniform badass look.

            “Where do you think you’re going?” Lily asked, opening Starrk’s and her bedroom door because it was right in the hall by the front door where Grimmjow was noisily rattling his jacket around as he put it on. It was hard not to take notice.

            Grimmjow gave the thin woman a solid stare without frowning. “Smokes.”

            Lily frowned. She understood how much time Grimmjow could waste on one of his trips out of the house. Money too… She just watched him go and then went back to her project on the computer. She was indeed making their new album cover and working very hard.

            From the bathroom door Tier had actually seen Grimmjow leave as well and sighed without having been noticed. He better come back in a descent amount of time or it would be his ass.

            Grimmjow shut and locked the front door, pocketing his key and hunched in an unfriendly position he squinted into the sunlight coming through the tree in the small and half-dead front yard. He walked ahead over the paved steps with a bound down to the flat walk and out onto their side walk with his hands jammed in his jacket’s pockets. One of his fingers tapped the front of his cellphone in a pocket anxiously. What the hell was he so twitchy and anxious for anyway? He sure felt like he hadn’t had a cigarette for a while, maybe that was it?

~

            Ichigo was pretty overwhelmed with the amount of houses that there were to drive past in this downtown area. It was so rustic, old and beautiful here, with far more nature and old houses compared to what it was like in the city but the one-way streets and constantly swerving and troublesome way that the roadways were set up and trees blocking street signs was getting very frustrating- And he’d passed that house with the devilish-looking gnomes twice already! Drinking his coffee to the last drop Ichigo gave up winding back and forth looking for a semblance of something that struck his memory and just tried to get out of here. He was never going to be able to find this stupid house among all of these and he had no idea who to ask. The internet had no clue, privacy and all that, he’d checked not just in a search engine but on a quick break from driving he’d looked up the band members’ names and social media and nothing. Nada. Not even pictures of the house.

            Ichigo started to wonder if that bassist might recognize his car and his face if he found him and bolt when he realized. It was a possibility…but hopefully not because Ichigo was not interested in chasing- All of his thoughts stopped. As fate would have it, just ahead of his car as he crept along at five miles per hour, was a man clad in all black with sky-colored hair. That fashion and the bad attitude that the posture put off…it was a good bet that this might be him.

~

            Grimmjow had no idea what was about to spring up but he was minding his own business and trying not to look any of his neighbors on their porches in the eye. They didn’t exactly like people like him around. For good reason sometimes. He heard a car behind him and it sounded like the tires were turning so that it could park. No big deal.

            Ichigo was freaking out and hoping that this guy wouldn’t get turned around before he could parallel park his sportscar because he had little to no practice doing it. The only thing he did know was that you backed into the space and had to get about halfway in before you turned the wheel…or something like that. He was being careful with his expensive car, and especially around other people’s cars but the immediate space was kind of small.

            Grimmjow turned his head to look over a shoulder, hearing constant stop and go with the tires on that car, which was fucking weird. He recognized it in an instant.

            Ichigo saw Grimmjow look back and it was him! In a snap judgement he just braked and put the sportscar in park and shut it off.

            Whether the person in there was coming after him or not Grimmjow was fucking out of there. He bolted at that famous top speed that could bowl people over with his large build hauling ass.

            Ichigo got out fast and slammed his door shut, locking the car. As he ran for the sidewalk he was yelling an apology to the resident who came out to see what bonehead was failing at parking in front of their house. With his shoes clacking hard against the concrete of the sidewalk Ichigo heaved breaths and ran as fast as he could but this guy was already pretty far ahead.

            Grimmjow’s long legs gave his stride extra oomph and as he ran past a house that was next to a park in the neighborhood he swung into the park quickly and ran onto the grass then continued to run across its open field toward a familiar landmark.

            Ichigo came wheezing after him. Shit! Shit, shit! He had to stop at the edge of the sidewalk by the park to breathe. It wasn’t fair that a smoker could outrun him. There was Grimmjow in the distance by some trees and aiming for a tall fence.

            On the other side of this tall fence there was a convenient store and gas station where he could get smokes and get the fuck out of there. He didn’t even look back, just assuming that his pursuer wasn’t anywhere close. Grimmjow jumped up and grabbed the top of the iron-barred fence and heaved with a good effort on his upper body’s strength’s part and climbed the fence, leaping down. He was breathing hard now too. Running that far so fast wasn’t easy for him. Walking toward the convenient store and catching his breath he rounded the corner and went inside. Grabbing a bottle of water, a candy bar and telling the cashier what smokes he wanted behind the counter Grimmjow anxiously tapped his rings against the counter – he seldom took those things off. It didn’t seem like the cashier felt at ease, they were probably wondering when he’d pull a gun but Grimmjow just paid with a crumpled twenty, got his change, put the candy bar in his pocket and got the fuck out. Outside he moved off a different way than he’d come by the store, and headed out to a sidewalk along a bigger street that passed beside this gas station, several mom and pop businesses and some other commercial places mixed into their neighborhood before he cut back into the residential parts.

            Ichigo was at a loss, that fence was too high; he’d even tried to climb it but he couldn’t. He stared in irritation, just a fence between him and someone he needed to talk to. He’d come this far, caught a break and then lost it just because he wasn’t agile enough. As Ichigo stared through the bars and he suddenly realized that his target in question was back out in plain sight. The bassist walked to the right and kept going. Ichigo had his heading. Determined, like a dog sniffing out another one in heat, he jogged through the park and tried to find his way to cut this guy off. It would work if he moved fast enough.

            Nonchalantly Grimmjow walked along, trying to think about anything but having to face the guy whose life he’d taken for a joyride in many senses yesterday, so he lit up a cigarette and promptly pushed the thought out of his head. He’d outmaneuvered crazier people, fans mostly, than this guy so there was nothing he figured he couldn’t wriggle out of. Grimmjow actually cut through a couple of people’s backyards and jumped out onto the sidewalk again. He was nearing his house. The rest of the band would actually be impressed, or they should be, with the efficient amount of time he’d managed to get back in. He flicked ashes at the concrete ground.

            Determined to a fault, perhaps, Ichigo went jogging down a street back the way he’d come by the park then up another street straight toward the direction that the bassist should be heading after going right. It was a very approximate guess but it was worth a shot. This next street Ichigo took running because if he didn’t he’d probably miss him.

            Grimmjow was exhaling a long drag off his cigarette when ahead of him that man he recognized jumped out at the corner of the next street he was going to cross. They were about forty feet apart. The bassist stalled, amazed but also pissed off. He pivoted, planning to run to the other side of the small neighborhood street it seemed.

            “Oh my god, don’t make me run anymore! _Please!_ ” Ichigo wheezed, leaning so that his hands could rest on slightly bent knees. “I just want to talk to you!”

            Grimmjow didn’t stop or consider the man’s statement and continued to run, himself starting to feel uncomfortably winded by now, but he was so determined to get away it was stupid.

            Ichigo growled and turned too. Without thinking he ran into the street behind himself to pursue and didn’t look for cars.

            Barely able to keep a hold of his cigarette as it knocked against one of the rings through his lips and clutching his water bottle tightly, Grimmjow heard screeching brakes and stopped cold, turning his head his heart thundered with an especial rapidness because he knew that guy had to cross a street to get to him. It was almost hard to look.

            Like a scared deer Ichigo was standing still in the middle of the street, taking a step or two back from an angry driver and their car. He hadn’t been hit but it was close, far too close for comfort. His heart was thundering just as hard.

            The man who had a lead only stared and stayed still long enough to see if that Kurosaki guy was alive and then moved on quickly. Grimmjow knew this was a great chance to get away.

            In coming moments when his senses returned Ichigo moved out of the way of the car to let the angry driver pass and the orange-haired entrepreneur couldn’t believe he’d done that. Now he was tired and frustrated. That damn blue-haired fiend was nowhere in sight now, but Ichigo still wasn’t willing to give up. That was Ichigo’s style, he got things done. At least he could guess in what general direction that bassist lived.

~

            Barging into the house and nearly crushing Starrk’s face with the front door Grimmjow went in and shut it with a slam and a turn of the lock behind himself. He’d ditched his dead cigarette outside first.

            Starrk snarled, “And your goddamn malfunction is?” He could clearly tell that Grimmjow was out of breath but why?

            Grimmjow got some air back and moved around Stark in the tight space by the front door. He went straight into the kitchen and leaned on the table getting his breath back before saying anything. “Some crazy-ass fan chased me. I lost ‘em before I got back here but _fuck…_ ” That had been unpleasant.

            A fully dressed Tier came down the stairs and stared at Grimmjow and Starrk who were both in the kitchen across from the stairs now. She was wearing a lovely white sundress…with the huge black symbol of their band painted haphazardly across its front. “Sit down…” she prodded the suggestion toward Grimmjow.

            “If I sit down my chest might explode,” Grimmjow remarked, avoiding both of them and now staggering upstairs to his bedroom. He pushed the door closed…or it would have closed if it wasn’t fucking broken. How that had gotten broken was still unknown to him. Once Grimmjow paced enough that he felt like he wasn’t going to pass out Grimmjow drank some of the water from the bottle he’d bought and put it and the half-melted candy bar down next to his laptop. Then he realized that someone had left his electric and bass strings on top of said laptop and picked them up with a light grin. “Thank you Nel!” he called loudly. The walls were paper-thin, she would hear him.

            Sure enough a moment later there was a ‘you’re welcome’ called from some place that was probably the steps to the basement.

            Even though she’d forgotten to give them to him earlier now was just fine. Grimmjow moved over to his guitars and started unpackaging the strings carefully.

~

            Ichigo had gone back to his sportscar and pulled it out of the badly parked space without having been ticketed or towed thankfully. He drove around the blocks and up toward the place where he’d almost cornered Grimmjow. Then he drove across the street where he’d nearly been hit and slowed way the heck down to an absolute crawl and looked around carefully.

            As luck would have it two women were coming out of a house with a dark-haired man that looked as intimidating as his online background implied when Ichigo was driving slow up this street. There was a lot of open parking on the opposite side of the street so he was able to pull over quicker this time.

            Those band members leaving the house were having fun chatting and the women, Tier and Nel, were holding hands and sing-songing at the man with them as he opened a parked car’s rear door for them. That was Starrk. Another man jogged out of the house in a hurry to join them, super skinny, tall and lean. Nnoitora. They all piled into an older sedan and drove off in a minute.

            Ichigo felt a little weird, thinking that if they’d seen him dogging after a member of the band like this that he’d look just like another psycho fan when he wasn’t that at all. With a sigh the orange-haired man got out of his sportscar and shut the door, locking it and walking across the street trying to look as casual as he wanted to appear. He didn’t hesitate to go up the house’s walk and knock. It was strange to Ichigo that this many lucky breaks had come of his trip over here. Some fate really wanted him to meet this guy face to face. In a way though…he hoped Grimmjow wouldn’t be the one to answer the door.

            Fortunately Lily answered the door because she was the only one who’d heard the knock. She stared at the stranger while still standing inside.

            Unsure of what else to do or say because he hadn’t exactly planned this out Ichigo saw the thin woman and immediately bowed politely.

            Meanwhile an unaware Grimmjow was finished restringing his instruments and had started tuning them. He started to play a song he’d written on the electric, even though it wasn’t plugged in, in order to see how well he’d tuned it. Damnit he’d need to hear the song again. He took his phone out. Dead. Fuck. He reached for the charger plugged into the wall and dropped the cellphone onto the top of the mattress after he’d plugged it in while managing not to drop the guitar off of his lap. Then he reached for his laptop which was reachable from the bed and opened it. Grimmjow stopped as he saw a note stuck to the screen. ‘I’m sorry I snooped but you sing beautifully and I’d like to hear more.’ The man didn’t know what to do with that. Who’d written this?!

            Ichigo had been talking to Lily for all of five minutes and not invited in yet but he hadn’t asked either. She was much easier to talk to than he could have ever hoped for, probably because her brother wasn’t here. In friendly conversation, shooting the breeze, she’d told him that she was an aspiring art student and about her merch for her band…which Ichigo intentionally slowly admitted he knew the name of after she’d mentioned it. Then he’d told her that he was an entrepreneur by trade and met a lot of artists which she asked about further because entrepreneurial work wasn’t something she was too familiar with. Ichigo explained that he financed all sorts of projects for some profit and that was his livelihood.

            Ichigo also found out about the botched photoshoot and printing flop because Lily talked about her current project being one where their photographer had run off with their money since he’d mentioned finances. He was lucky to be told as much. She was so friendly and had less restraint when speaking with others; however this was an openness that benefited from being expressed. The whole time Ichigo was standing there nervously chatting with Lily as a complete stranger, he’d been trying to work up the nerve to ask about Grimmjow specifically but their issue distracted him and suddenly the surging need to get to Grimmjow to question him about what had happened yesterday fell behind what he knew was a setback for the band. Ichigo asked a little more about the issue and gradually Lily came around to telling him that they were struggling to get this worked out without enough money to get another printer for their CDs right away.

            Even though he didn’t have to go this far Ichigo stepped up to the plate and gave Lily his information and phone number in exchange for her brother’s. “When I get to talk to him we’ll set this up quickly. I know printers who I can vouch for you guys with, they’ll only ask for money after a few months of your sales have come through so you’ll have money to pay them.”

            “Really?!” Lily was visibly excited. “You aren’t just kidding me right?!”

            “I’m not kidding. I promise. Tell your brother, manager, to call me soon and I’ll meet with him on short notice if need be. I understand working for a deadline and I wouldn’t want you guys to miss it.” Ichigo smiled. He was going to leave her with this and just walk away. That was going to be it. Maybe he’d meet Starrk face to face but no one else. Then again it might only be business over the phone and emails. Ichigo couldn’t let himself be selfish enough to badger these striving musicians around, even if he’d come this far. They were already under so much stress…and Grimmjow wanted to be left alone, so he would just leave the man alone.

            Lily clutched her cellphone close to her heart with an excited fluttering because this meant that they were going to be ok! She trusted this man for some reason, he looked so kind. Additionally biting her lip she danced excitedly in place at the front door and jumped to hug him. Ichigo patted her on the back before she let go. “Did you want to come in or something?”

            “Oh no…that’s ok. I’m just going to head off I was just passing through and needed to stop here.” Ichigo was resolved in helping but not invading their space, there’d been enough of that lately.

            “Can I ask something kind of rude real quick? Sorry to sound skeptical or something but…” Lily prodded and without waiting for an ‘ok’ she asked anyway, “…what are you even doing here? Like why? You came out of nowhere.” And all of the sudden he was the savior that they needed.

            Ichigo paused and rattled some bullshit off, “My grandmother used to live here. In this house. I was hoping to see who lived here now. It’s no big deal really, but thanks for taking care of the place. It looks just like it always has.” He smiled and was smiled back at as he headed off in hurried step toward his nice sportscar.

            Lily waved happily from the door. From her perspective that guy was really kind and sentimental. How nice. She didn’t even pay mind to the car he was walking toward.

~

            Grimmjow had come out of his room and was stopped in the hall by a butt-naked Renji.

            Wearing nothing but his tats Renji had put a hand up to stop his pal. “Lily’s talking to someone at the door, can hear mumbling through the wall, but I have no clue what they’re fucking saying. Could you look?” He was obviously in no position to run down there himself right now and Hisagi…well he was naked in their room too.

            With a frown Grimmjow pushed Renji’s arm away. “She’ll be fine.” He was headed downstairs anyway. Renji went back into his room with a grumble as Grimmjow stalked off. When he came to the base of the stairs Grimmjow noticed Lily standing at the open front door and waving outside as someone was across the street getting into their- THAT CAR. Grimmjow’s nerves all tensed up at the same time. “What did he say?!” Grimmjow snapped aggressively, coming toward Lily at a stomping pace.

            Lily turned around and growled at Grimmjow. She was not scared of him and his shitty attitude. “He was by here because his grandmother used to live here a long time ago. He knows a printer and he’s going to talk to Starrk and get our CDs made.”

            Well that ‘grandmother’ thing was a crock of shit but Grimmjow’s eyes stayed wide as for just a second he was seriously taken aback by the second thing. Was that what this guy wanted this whole time?! Could he even do that?! “Move Lily!” Grimmjow barked, clamoring past her and rushing outside in what were the same clothes he’d had on – hadn’t even taken his boots off yet.

            “Bully!” Lily growled blowing a raspberry. She stormed off without closing the door but she had a mind to lock Grimmjow outside. He’d deserve it.

            Grimmjow nearly tripped as he jumped down the few steps onto their walkway and got into the sidewalk just as the sportscar across the street was pulling out of its space and turning around to go back up the street. Grimmjow bounded in front of the car, agile legs and hands on the hood keeping him from getting hurt. The vehicle stopped. He breathed a few ragged and freaked out breaths as he stared through the windshield with shaking arms. He almost couldn’t believe he did that. Grimmjow was pretty fearless but not _that_ fearless, he could have been run over – especially when he knew that this particular car’s accelerator was sensitive.

            The sportscar lurched slightly as Ichigo hammered into the breaks and they screeched for an instant. His heart pounded as he white-knuckled the steering wheel with suddenly trembling hands and his braking foot on the floor. His eyes stuck to the blue pair that was stationary and gazing through the windshield in matching alarm. Ichigo came around when the man ahead started yelling at him which was a bit hard to hear with all of the windows up. If he hadn’t jumped in front of the car Ichigo realized that he would have probably driven away without even noticing because shouting from the sidewalk was the only other likely option and the sound was really muffled.

            “What the fuck are you doing following me and harassing me at my own house?!” Grimmjow did not seem happy. He also didn’t know how to start this off diplomatically.

            Ichigo put the car in park and got out quickly, realizing that this was his chance and it was hitting him head-on stubbornly. Something wanted him to make this connection. Badly it did. “You could have gotten your legs broken!”

            Grimmjow angrily came around the car and stormed toward the orange-haired man with that overly comfortable looking sweater. It wasn’t even winter! IT WAS SUNNY AND WARM FALL! What the fuck?! Just a stupid detail like that peeved him even more. “Shut up! What the hell were you doing digging through my shit?!”

            Ichigo’s thoughts stalled. There was no grace to this approach.

            “You know what I’m goddamn talking about!” Grimmjow yelled straight up in the other man’s face as he got close. “How did you hack my shit?!”

            “I didn’t hack it! I guessed because you have a dumb password!” Ichigo fired back, not appreciating being yelled at when this guy had probably done as much damage. “What the hell did you to my flat and my friends?!”

            Grimmjow cocked his jaw, “Those chicks who work in your office?”

            “You went to where I work?!” Ichigo was horrified.

            “And got creeped on by that _idiot_ guy with brown hair, who you should fire by the way, YEAH! I did!” Grimmjow crossed his arms smugly, aiming to get the one-up on this guy any way he could. “I fucked your secretaries for you too. You should be thanking me.”

            “Thanking you?!” Ichigo was even more horrified to hear the rest of the truth. “I’M GAY! Not that you’d know that, but you certainly weren’t doing me a favor! You’ve literally made my life infinitely more awkward!”

            Grimmjow looked surprised, sucking on his tongue’s piercing, but like everything else stressful he brushed it off. “Eh. Just get new secretaries.”

            “What?!” Angrily Ichigo’s hands balled into fists at his sides in favor of defending his excellent staff who deserved better than this. “I’m not just going to replace people who’ve done nothing wrong. Unlike _you!_ ”

            “Well fuck you too pal. You can’t replace me if I don’t mean anything to you! And the only thing I vaguely screwed were your ladies…and you’re all fucking pissed off that I got you doubly laid…” It was like Grimmjow had forgotten that this man before him had been through his very personal stuff and had probably seen some things that qualified as ammunition to fire back right now…and he would probably talk about these things in a loud voice if provoked.

            Almost too mercifully Ichigo growled lowly. “Says the guy with a million pictures of homosexual men on his phone and his laptop… Is this where you get off?”

            “Come again?” Grimmjow balled up fists and took an intimidating step forward.

            Ichigo could have shouted a compromising reiteration into the afternoon air but he didn’t. Instead he closed his mouth with a peeved stare; he was not to be mistaken for a wuss. “Twice? For you? No…” He shook his head sharply with his current expression sticking. “I’m very sorry for going through your stuff but at least I didn’t intentionally exploit your _life_.”

            Grimmjow didn’t say anything back.

            “You could have ruined my reputation and everything I’ve ever built for myself just because you couldn’t turn off horny! You fucking _pig!_ ” Ichigo stepped back and yanked his car’s driver door open again. “This doesn’t change the fact that I’m going to make sure your band has a printer, as you might’ve overheard, but you’re so disgusting…don’t ever fucking come near me after this.” Ichigo got in and slammed the door shut. He took the sportscar out of park and sped away, easily avoiding Grimmjow who was on the side of the car and who also didn’t try to stop him.

            Grimmjow stood in the middle of the road reflecting on what he’d done to upset that guy…and for the first time in his life the usually remorseless and destructive man felt deep-seated guilt above anything else.


	8. Be There

** Two Lives **

 

_A fanfiction written by FicticiousDelicious._

 

**Chapter 08 – “Be There”**

            For the next couple of days Ichigo stayed in his flat and did not even think about leaving because thankfully all of his business, including the printer and CDs for Dragona, could be taken care of over the phone and internet. He held up his end of the bargain and unknown to the band the reason that the printer hadn’t asked for money up front from them was because Ichigo paid them an agreed majority of the printing costs. When they again contacted the band they probably wouldn’t believe how little they owed but Ichigo didn’t care about all of that. He was trying to put them out of his head now because his work-life balance was going to be so fucked up. He was sure of it! He hadn’t been back to headquarters to see anyone yet but looking Orihime and Yoruichi in the eye, the both of them, was just a thought for now and it was already threatening to give him a panic attack.

            Also what the fuck was Szayel doing talking to Aizen and why was that brunette snake anywhere near where he lived?! Aizen had a house out of the city, he should be there. Ichigo counted his lucky stars that they hadn’t seen him so they couldn’t possibly know that he knew something was up.

            After a _third_ day spent trying to plan how he was going to do damage control Ichigo decided that he was going to make a few phone calls. This was going to take all of his nerve… First he dialed Orihime… The phone rang a few times and the nervous man paced in the kitchen back and forth with a hand on the phone and the other stuffed up in his hair until the call picked up and then he perked up for a second and started pacing again. Hopeless mess. “Hello?”

            “Hello!” Orihime’s sweet-sounding voice came through the device and she sounded just fine.

            “It’s uh…me Miss Inoue.” Ichigo was tentative to see how she’d react and making sure she knew for sure who was calling.

            “Oh I know! I have you in my contacts, silly!” she chripped. “Oh! How rude I am…good morning Kurosaki sir! Are you doing ok?”

            “I’m doing just fine. Are you..?”

            “Of course!” There was some wind blowing against the phone with a whipping sound. “Can you hear me ok? I’m out in the park and it’s windy.”

            Ichigo was relieved to hear that, “Look Miss Inoue, I’m…very sorry for a few night’s ago. I don’t know what came over me.”

            Orihime seemed to take a pause and sighed by the phone. “It’s ok. We were all a little too happy drinking, but it turned out alright. I was just surprised because I heard that you were gay.”

            “I am…” Ichigo winced to say because he didn’t feel like he had a leg to stand on right now.

            “Hmm, well then there’s nothing to worry about. We just won’t drink too much again!” Orihime’s strategy was bulletproof actually but she’d never know that the real reason anything had happened was because there was a bisexual mind piloting her boss that night. Just too complicated and unbelievable to explain.

            Ichigo conceded to that suggestion. “Right. Of course. No more drinking. Well, maybe we’ll even only have sparkling cider at the office gatherings from now on just to be safe too. Again I’m very sorry, behaving that way was very unprofessional of me.”

            “Forgiven, but only because you feel bad. The sex was actually pretty good.” Hold on that wasn’t Inoue’s voice.

            Ichigo coughed with a hard blush on his face. Had those words really just come out of Inoue’s mouth?! Wait a second this was a different voice. “Yoruichi?! Ahem…Miss Yoruichi.”

            “Uuuuh, duh. Hey sugar, no need for the formalities. We’re not working and you were going to call me next _right?_ ” the sassy woman prodded, intentionally teasing to make him sweat bullets, from the same end of the call as Orihime.

            Ichigo sighed by the phone, “Of course I was.”

            “Well Inoue and I are just going through the park. Actually your slip-up has made us better friends than we already were. Thanks,” Yoruichi furthered.

            “Y-You’re welcome?” Ichigo felt mentally exhausted after that scare but at least this knocked two things out at the same time. “I’m very sorry to you too. It was-”

            “I heard. I heard. Sugar, what you need is a _date_. With a _man_. Who can take you home and-”

            Ichigo made a hissing sound to shush her. “I-I’ll be fine. I don’t need that.”

            “If you’re gettin’ so horny that you’re bedding women when you prefer men something’s wrong. You have homework. Find a date…and fire Aizen too while you’re at it, that asshole came back up yesterday bossing the both of us around and tried to call a damn board meeting right under your nose but Miss Inoue here told him to _fuck off_. I think he knows that we three got a little busy and was looking to sprinkle some dirt on your name.”

            “I didn’t say that to him! I just told him that Mister Kurosaki is the only one important enough to call a board meeting,” Orihime defended close enough to the phone to be heard.

            Yoruichi paused for only a second. “Like I said…she told him to _fuck off_ and he’s got it out for _you_ , sugar.”

            Ichigo’s expression looked as tense as he felt hearing this. “Excuse me for being so blunt but, what makes you think that he knows anything?”

            “He wouldn’t try to call a board meeting over nothing and he’s got nothing else that could hurt you, right? These things all happened so recently that it makes sense that they’re related. Think, sugar, it’s the worst kept secret that you two shagged a year ago. He was thirsty then but you’re clearly not interested or you’d be dating him! Now he’s just thirsty for something else. Blood, and some of that power you’ve got going for you. Take my advice, just fire him. Everyone’s already sick of him and they already know that you two had a thing and if he tries to implicate you or coercing us into anything…ahem…I’ve got the security tapes so no one is going to step on the best boss I’ve ever had,” Yoruichi actually took a breath now.

            Ichigo was silent for a moment. He wasn’t totally sure that he wanted to know how Yoruichi had ended up with them but she was allowed to review security footage that concerned them.

            Orihime chirped, “Yeah! You’re my favorite boss too. We’re going to throw the tapes in the lake here at the park.”

            Ichigo wondered if that was the only reason they were out there but he was impressed by their loyalty. “You might want to just burn them…but I’m really grateful that you two would stand up for me like this and I’m very ashamed that you’re having to do something drastic when I should be the one correcting my mistake.”

            “Mister Kurosaki…we all made the mistake together. So as people we’re fixing it together,” Orihime assured. “There’s no need to need to be ashamed.”

            “Beautiful Orihime. Also Ichigo, if you fire Aizen in front of everyone I’ll personally send you on a blind date with a hot model straight off the catwalk.” Yoruichi meant it. She knew people.

            Ichigo couldn’t help a little laughter, “I couldn’t ask for two better secretaries. I’ll have to think about the most appropriate way to fire Aizen. I have to go.”

            “Of course sugar.”

            “Be well!” Orihime was the last one talking as the call ended.

            When Ichigo had said ‘I have to go’ he really meant ‘I have to go hyperventilate right now because this stress has its claws in me’. He sank down to the floor, sliding down against the stove and just sitting there staring at his cellphone apprehensively. Fire Aizen… He had to fire Szayel too… Nothing to that had evidence but he didn’t want to take chances. A few extra phone calls later and Ichigo had gracefully ended his contract with the chauffer by speaking to the company that Szayel worked for. He also informed the building’s security that Szayel was no longer providing him a service, implying that Szayel was disallowed from the premises, and security actually had some interesting information for Ichigo regarding that. Apparently his previously trusted chauffer had come with a man they did not recognize to request footage for some damage done to the sportscar but security turned them away because they did not have a warrant to obtain the footage and neither was a resident in the building so they weren’t allowed to view it either. Ichigo knew the security officers in this building, they were part of why he’d chosen to live here, they were very honest. He asked and they said that if he needed that they would give statements to the police. Ichigo now had a perfect reason to fire Aizen, but for now instead of immediately calling the police and starting a huge fuss over something that didn’t need to blow up prematurely he sent an email to the snake of the hour.

            Aizen only responded some hours later when it was late in this third day’s evening.

            Ichigo had informed the man that there was going to be a board meeting to discuss a new project, and when he saw that Aizen was on board for that _tomorrow_ Ichigo then sent everyone else their email and apologized for the urgency and suddenness. He intended to see that they were compensated a little extra for their time, and that night Ichigo slept like a baby and just as happy. Damage control wasn’t easy but he was fortunate for how things had turned out.

~

            Meanwhile in the same night Dragona’s members were partying hard and celebrating their new album’s release. Starrk hadn’t been able to find that stupid photographer who’d ripped them off for more than a grand so this saving grace aid had come at the perfect time. The universe wanted this metal album to be made known and it was fucking happening! Their sales were through the roof and the whole CD package looked as badass as it sounded. A label, which the band liked, was interested in signing them and had called multiple times with congratulations.

            This evening they felt like kings and queens and the band was just getting back to the house and pouring out of the stretch limousine which their sales had paid for in addition to the party and they still had good money to spare! Everyone was very, _very_ drunk and elated. One after the other they were hanging onto clothes, shoulders…one or two of them hurled in the front yard, before they shambled up to the house and then each person started to file themselves away into their separate rooms for much needed sleep.

            Renji and Hisagi in their usual shared space.

            Lily and Starrk to theirs.

            Nnoitora and Nel stumbled downstairs.

            Grimmjow and Tier upstairs to his room, the usual scene of the crime and they spent at least thirty minutes trying to figure out _how_ to have sex but they were too drunk to even do that. Tier passed out on the makeshift bed while Grimmjow was up there for all of two minutes before he slipped onto the floor and just stayed there the whole night, asleep.

            Despite any awkward placements they were all quite happy. Their album had gone out more successfully than they’d planned. They were making a ton of money. A label they loved and wanted to sign with was praising them. The fans were praising them. They had a tour lined up if they signed, starting in this city and going across the country. It was all working out really swell.

            Thanks to a little help from an unexpected person…

~

            The following day Ichigo dressed his professional best and arrived early for the last-minute meeting he’d called and waited calmly for everyone to arrive. Aizen was the second to arrive and, even though Ichigo was about to kick him to the curb, Ichigo still pretended like nothing was wrong and they chatted civilly until all of the board members had arrived. Then Ichigo stood up at the head of the table and exercised his power as director and owner of this business and dropped the axe on Aizen.

            Aizen got _so angry_ that two board members had to hold his arms while Ichigo left the meeting hall. “Meeting adjourned. Thank you all for joining me for such unpleasant business so early.”

            “We are not done here! You have no right to do this to me!” Aizen shrieked angrily, struggling as he glared at the orange-haired man by the glass doors.

            Ichigo pushed open a door and looked back regarding the enraged man, “Mister Aizen, we are _very_ done here.” _‘Have a dose of your own medicine you prick,’_ Ichigo’s thoughts chimed. Then he strode out of the room and as Ichigo was walking there were two security guards who came out of the elevator and went around him with a nod and into the meeting room. Ichigo looked at the reception desk.

            Orihime’s huge round eyes peered over the top edge and Yoruichi’s too.

            “Thank you very much for call them preemptively. Your timing was perfect,” he complimented.

            “Our pleasure.” They said in unison.

            Before security got out with Aizen, Ichigo walked swiftly to the elevator so that he would be able to take it and not have to share the ride down with them. He got his wish, the doors rolled closed just as the meeting room’s burst open and there was shouting, quickly muffled by the elevator doors closing and the elevator starting to descend. Ichigo sighed and relaxed what had been some seriously straight posture to a casual slouch. That was done… Once the elevator reached the lobby floor Ichigo hurried out and to the parking garage to get his car and retreat for a destressing trip to a spa, maybe a sports bar…who knew… Somewhere that he could just forget his troubles and drink hot sake or beer even though it was just barely getting to noontime.

~

            When Grimmjow woke up he was still on the floor of his bedroom but someone had covered him up with a fuzzy blanket. As he came to and the blanket rubbed up against his face, he realized that it was Nel’s because it smelled like her. Pushing himself up with a grunt he stared at the clock with red numbers on a stack of boxes beside his bed. It was noon. Rolling his tongue piercing against the roof of his mouth he glanced at the bed. Tier was gone. Grimmjow sighed and picked himself up, shucking off his party clothes from last night and pulling on some black sweatpants and his hole-littered goblin t-shirt. Out of his bedroom Grimmjow came yawning and still looking half asleep.

            Renji saw him in the hall and nodded, “If you’re gonna take a shower there’s a waiting list.”

            “I’ll wash myself off in the kitchen sink if I’m desperate.” Both men looking at each other knew they were equally as hungover. Grimmjow didn’t even try to seem better off.

            “So who the fuck was that cat with the connection? I heard you screamin’ at someone outside. Lily said it was that guy. Didn’t hear about what you said though,” Renji was suddenly compelled to ask because it was basically that guy’s help which had returned the good cards to their hand.

            Grimmjow shrugged with a shake of his head, “I thought he was a crazy fan because he was chasing me back from the store after I bought smokes the other day.”

            Renji squinted at Grimmjow with a confused look in his sharp eyes, “I thought Lily said he was just visiting the house… He chased you?”

            Grimmjow quickly realized his goof. Fuck. “Nah…maybe that was another guy?”

            Renji laughed and shoved Grimmjow playfully. “You idiot..! You’re still drunk!” He barked more laughter.

            Grimmjow chucked a bit and nervously moved the fuck on. Whether Renji was still loopy from drinking or if he’d gotten high this morning this man did not want to get caught in explaining that unbelievable situation. It was bad enough it just being a memory; it didn’t need to be a topic of conversation. Grimmjow got a glass of water and nodded at Tier and Nel who were sitting at the kitchen table drinking tea. “Thanks for the blanket.”

            “You’re welcome!” Nel chirped with a smile. Man…did talking that loud make her head hurt…

            Tier snorted and sipped from her tea. “Since when do you thank people?”

            “Since I have manners,” Grimmjow shot back, drinking from the glass after.

            “Where do you hide those?” More shots fired! Tier’s sass was not encumbered by her hangover at all.

            “You know, where I hide everything else…up my ass,” Grimmjow countered crudely.

            “Eeeew…” Nel complained, putting her head down on the table because the room was spinning and her head was pounding.

            Grimmjow wandered off to get his phone and his pack before Tier could let him have it again. He sipped water while he walked but it didn’t really help his headache much yet. Nabbing the cellphone and his cigarettes he brought the water too and went out on the front step to smoke. The warm sunlight of midday felt good and his head started to hurt a little less the more he was out there and drinking water. Dehydration headaches stacked with hangovers…or maybe they were just part of a hangover…regardless it was an unpleasant thing. Amusing himself with his phone Grimmjow stumbled on something that he’d forgotten about. When Lily tried to send Starrk the phone and contact info for their savior, Ichigo, she’d accidentally sent it to everyone. Grimmjow had saved it in his contacts. He didn’t know if that Kurosaki dude had his number already, but if he did it was probably blocked. As he took another drag from the cigarette, avoiding running its butt up against any of his lip piercings out of habit, Grimmjow stared at the plain contact page and the number with addresses and similar shit lightly thumbing the page up and down as he decided whether he should actually leave the guy alone or apologize for being a royal prick.

~

            Ichigo was home! Home sweet home… He’d just gone for a quick drink at a bar which was alright. The flat’s door closed and Ichigo stumbled to the living room and flopped down on one of the couches, tossing his keys and phone up on the coffee table nearby. He soaked in the peace and quiet for a few minutes of absolute relief. He’d fixed things and now life could keep going. Just his same old, usual…quiet…life… Ichigo propped his head up with a fist as he was laying belly-down already and kicked off his shoes, using his feet dangling off the couch to do so. They landed on the pristinely polished floor with two ‘thunks’. The man stared into the couch’s uniform white material and his face went from happy to neutral.

            Why was the elation of this triumph wearing off so fast?

            Just then his phone chirped at him with a text and Ichigo jolted slightly. Oh my god that was a little much… With a soft moan he slowly sat up and reached for the device, starting to loosen his tie and pull his suit’s jacket off which went over the back of the couch. He unlocked the cellphone and opened a new text…from an unknown number… This better not be Aizen or Szayel telling him that they were going to sue the shit out of him… The text read differently than either of them would phrase.

            ‘R u ok?’

            Ichigo hesitated before texting back. ‘Who is this?’

            ‘who do u think?’

            Now he knew damn well who it was but instead of telling the man off Ichigo engaged. ‘You’re coming a bit late to ask that sort of question.’

            ‘stop texting so purfect, ur pissing me off’

            ‘I know that you know how to spell better than this.’

            ‘snoop’

            ‘And punctuate.’

            ‘don’t start a sentence with ‘and’’

            Ichigo smirked a little while staring at his phone as it took only seconds to get replies. ‘Why do you care about my grammar?’

            ‘u dodged my question so I’m dodging urs. R u ok?’

            There it was again. ‘I’m ok.’

            ‘good.’

            Ichigo didn’t send anything after that and just stared at the stream of messages under the phone number where a name should go instead. He didn’t have to respond to get more out of the man he was texting with.

            ‘i’m sorry 4 making ur life hard’

            Ichigo smiled a little. Since when did a guy like this apologize. ‘Harder.’

            ‘huh?’

            ‘I said ‘harder’. As in it was already hard but you made it harder.’ Somehow he knew that Grimmjow was on the other end of the connection going through a hundred ways to turn that comment inside out.

            ‘generally u shout that. none of that pussyass whisper in my ear shit plz’

            Ichigo bit his lip chuckling. ‘I thought you were a romantic.’

            ‘go 2 hell, while ur there why don’t u come to the show?’

            ‘What show? I don’t like guns.’

            ‘it’s less lethal than my guns but u might want earplugs’ Another message popped through with a VIP ticket, details and a barcode immediately after.

            Ichigo’s eyes widened a little bit. This was the first show of the band’s tour. ‘What if I don’t like the music?’

            ‘it’s a second apology. i know u like the music. shut up’

            Ichigo smiled and sent one last text. ‘I’ll think about it.’

            ‘be there’

            Ichigo set down his phone with a long sigh and stared up at the ceiling. How was he not angry anymore? That apology probably. Ichigo supposed that was that. Also, Grimmjow had decided for him that he was going and who was he to refuse a free ticket to a concert? Holy shit though…he’d never been to a live concert before. How did this even work?!


	9. Dragona Live

** Two Lives **

 

_A fanfiction written by FicticiousDelicious._

 

 

**Chapter 09 – “Dragona Live”**

            There was a flaw in Grimmjow’s perfect plan to keep his relations with their savior a secret: Lily’s acute hearing. Fortunately for the bassist she had only told Renji the man’s excuse for coming by but she’d explained everything to Starrk, just him, who knew to keep his mouth shut and she would too. Lily and Starrk were the ones who’d doled out VIP tickets for every band member to drag friends along if they pleased. Some of them invited friends but it was primarily Starrk and Lily’s way of testing Grimmjow.

~

            Evening fell like a curtain and drew heavy metal fans from across the city and beyond. Not sure he knew what he’d signed up for Ichigo was getting shoved around a whole lot. This venue seemed huge in the pictures online but when he arrived now it was so crowded that he was getting claustrophobic just getting in the door. Finally pushed past the throng of metalhead fans Ichigo was in a more spacey lobby where people’s tickets were getting scanned and VIPs got wristbands, directions where to go and wanded for metal objects. Fortunately for Ichigo he’d left his butcher knife at home. The basic security wasn’t bad, this proved that Dragona’s new label was treating them very well; that pleased Ichigo, he’d read up on some of their news. As he was directed to balcony seats for VIPs and got a special wristband and drink tokens for free booze, Ichigo was sent ahead inside and looked around the roomy venue as he went in to get to the balcony stairs. His eyes were wide, it looked like a punk-theatre with dark drapes and shrouds and looming features painted on the walls. There was a huge dragon painted in the dead-center of the tall dome ceiling! That thing was intimidating and cool and of course fitting…this was their theatre after all. This venue was owned by a friend of the band or a member…he couldn’t remember right now.

            Ichigo was among the first to be let in because he’d been waiting outside for two hours before the doors opened. Tips online had said to get to a popular show very early; he’d figured two hours was enough and for this venue’s size and the concert’s popularity and fortunately for him it was. Tonight Ichigo had dressed himself in all black and was wearing some platform goth boots that he’d had to buy quickly. There were some black streaks, not permanent, through his fire-colored hair as he’d figured that was kind of trendy in this scene and of course…a classic accent – black eyeliner. ‘Guyliner’? Was that what it was called? He thought so, maybe. It was actually something that he liked to wear on his own from time to time but much thinner. He looked like a basic subculture dude and admittedly this thigh-long black sweater with slits up the sides to his hips and authentic leather pants were comfortable.

            As he walked shyly thorough the center of the pit to get a better look at the dragon painted above, not bumping into the few people who’d already gotten in too, there was a kind of smoke being generated that slowly filled this room and crept across the floor. Eerie. After his look at the dragon Ichigo ascended the stairs to the balcony and showed the bouncer up there his wristband and was directed to a table with his name on it by the railing in the dead-center of the overlook.

            Other names were on reserved tables as he passed and then coming to his own personal spot Ichigo peered over the railing at the scene. More people were flooding in, mostly to the pit, but he felt special to get to be up here where it wasn’t going to be so crowded. Some music over the speakers started playing loudly and Ichigo flinched. That was so loud! He reached for the earplugs in his pocket that he was glad he’d brought – that advice was good. The assault on his ears was much more bearable now and he could actually understand the music. This ambient music to help people pass the time until the show was metal too but this wasn’t Dragona. It was something…from before their time. Ichigo knew this music’s band name and sitting on his tall chair at the table he put his elbows on the surface and supported his chin with his palms, listening to the music through the earplugs in pure bliss as he watched the floor below fill with bodies.

            It took an hour, it was maybe seven o’clock when the actual concert started. The overhead lights were shut off and the ambient music stopped and the lights all went down notches more. The transition to live music was quick and as the stage’s dark curtains were swiped away and onstage lights shifted lit up pillars of bright red while the music kicked up. A very nice, aggressive song started to assault the audience; it was one of their older and better known ones to warm up the crowd.

            Excitedly Ichigo’s eyes picked out the band members, seeing some of them in the flesh for the first time with his own eyes, not a borrowed set. They all had a theme on and it was black and red with lots of that liquid latex body paint, leather and wrist or ankle cuff with chains hanging from them. Ichigo bit his lip.

            Renji was on his drumkit and pounding the shit out of it with black drumsticks. He had slathered himself in red latex with just leather pants and boots on and streaks of black down his face surrounded by wild, chest-length, free-floating hair that he tossed side to side. As he tapped his feet around and moved the ankle cuffs and chains clanked.

            Nnoitora was lurking near the back by Renji working his magic on effects with a leather cloak on and the hood pulled over his head. As his blackened arms reached out to press buttons he looked like the grim reaper quietly supporting the band. Sinister and looming. The chained cuffs were on his ankles too. It was actually rare that Nnoitora performed live because he usually preferred to run the soundboard.

            Nelliel was on the opposite side of the stage with a violin to start. The wrist cuffs and chains she wore were slid back on her slender forearms. She had a little army of several instruments behind her that she would be using tonight and a microphone on a stand ahead which she could sing into. In tall red pumps she wore a large leather belled dress that was short to her mid-thighs and dripping with red fabric hanging off the rim like blood. Some latex was on her arms and neck.

            Grimmjow was exactly opposite of Nel on the other side of the stage closer to Nnoitora. Grimmjow had his bass and was absolutely drenched in black latex with red streaks down his back and shoulders. He was wearing _all_ of his many piercings and they gleamed in the lights. The man looked unholy but it was fitting. Shirtless, he had on leather pants and one chain cuff on his left wrist, the side that was holding the neck of the bass, and an ankle cuff on his right leg. His feet dawned combat boots up to his knees.

            Hisagi roamed the space at center-stage where he ripped on his electric guitar and made those strings cry for all the noise it could muster. Wearing combat boots too but leather shorts with many chains hanging off of them, he was exceptionally energized tonight and kept moving around between band members across the stage. With the same smart arrangement of a chain linked cuff on his left arm and right leg, Hisagi was cutting lose and being sure not to run into anyone but he was having a ball visiting with all of them while he ravaged the strings and frets and the other band members were having a ball indulging him. His shirtless body was a mesh of the black and red latex over mostly his upper body.

            Tier, at the head of this pack, had her hands on a mic stand that looked like the vertebra of a giraffe its decorative column was so long. Of course it wasn’t really but it was a fierce looking piece of equipment. She sang and screamed and growled into the microphone with tones that colored a lot of the unique flavor of Dragona’s sound. It couldn’t be helped; people’s voices were all so different and that was the one instrument which couldn’t be sold in a store or put together piece by piece. She was wearing a dark red gown and drenched in more red latex than black and a silvery crown with tall jagged spires sticking up from it sat on her blonde hair. She looked like a queen of blood.

            Ichigo was enthralled, by the constant and timely transition of the lights, the sound and the visuals – all of it! His heart was thundering. The music was thrumming against and through his body so much that it felt like it was keeping him alive, pumping his heart for him. The crowd below was insane and cheering, jumping and moshing. Holy shit people were really shoving each other around down there. The stage lights traveled according to the music and sometimes dimed and flickered fastly or rose in great beams toward the ceiling that illuminated the room and the enormous painted dragon which loomed over them.

            Song after song, there was no getting tired of this or the environment he was in. If anything Ichigo was becoming used to it and very comfortable. At first he’d wondered what it would be like to be up at the front of the stage but those people looked like there were always getting crushed and pushed, so he was plenty content with his bird’s-eye view. The band shook and rattled the venue with more and more of their new music at heart-sundering levels. Ichigo was so pumped full of energy by the hours they played for, with _one_ fifteen-minute break, that he could hardly believe it when they announced their last song. He was almost sad but he was too jazzed with his time spent to actually get sad. Their song before this had been pretty insane and seemed like a good finisher but what were they going to follow up with now?

            Ichigo’s blood started to cool down just a touch as he realized that they didn’t start playing it right away. Was something wrong?

            Band members started changing places and rearranging themselves on the stage.

            Ichigo’s heart was beating in tense rhythmic thumps as his eyes shifted in eager anticipation.

            Tier stepped back…and Grimmjow took her place after trading his bass for an electric guitar with Hisagi. Tier went to stand with Nel and the two women shared a microphone as Nel held onto a cello. Hisagi went to stand where Grimmjow had been, ready to play the bass.

            With heavily ringed fingers, Grimmjow leaned the long vertebra microphone stand to himself. “How are we all doing tonight?!” he worked the crowd. Everyone screamed. To quiet them down he started talking again with the electric guitar hanging off of his body at an angle. “Well that’s fucking good. I’d worried y’all were dead.” Some laughter.

            Even Ichigo laughed, feeling lighter now that he was getting a clue about what was going on. He grinned a little. The crowd had no idea what was about to hit them…but he did and was looking forward to it.

            “Well I bet none of you motherfuckers knew that I could sing.” He paused. “Well actually one of you did…”

            Ichigo felt his heart flip.

            “And that person asked me to sing for ‘em and I just thought I’d take everyone along for the ride.” Grimmjow reached to lift the electric guitar and played a single distorted strum across the cords and talked into the microphone one last time before the song started. “So here’s a fucking unreleased piece of shit that I hope you enjoy!” Then the blaring of instruments started and as he reamed those guitar strings for every note they would give up Grimmjow’s voice started in a loud building growl that tapered off to the intro of the song.

            Feeling his body shaking for whatever reason Ichigo got off of his chair and leaned on the balcony. He shouldn’t be so thrilled, should he? It was just a song…it was just a song…but he’d been called out as he listened the lyrics it told of a dark pit where empty men died by their own hands and faults and sins. Then an apology screamed out of that pit to someone they remembered who had beaten some sense into them…and by the end of the song out of the pit that man had slogged, crawled and staggered. Alive.

            “Will you be my new drug? Be my new drug… Fill my life! Forgive me! Forgive meee! Aaaah!” the man onstage half-sang and half-screamed to the fairly aggressive tune.

            Still feeling the adrenaline-charged excitement, Ichigo choked up a little. _‘Yeah I do,’_ his thoughts approved.

            In front of a thousand people Grimmjow was confessing and apologizing while doing what he loved…

            When that song ended the crowd screamed their praises and the band members seemed to be going away, leaving the stage but everyone was screaming for one more. Just one more song!

            From the balcony Ichigo screamed too. He could not have stopped himself if he tried with every ounce of will. He was hopeless in the moment.

            Dragona came back out and played one more vicious and popular song from their oldest album in traditional formation with everyone back in their usual places and tore through the air of the venue with the last of their sound for the evening.

            When the music finally stopped with the last distorted sounds the last was the reverberating of guitars’ growls. Ichigo felt himself breathing harder, his heart still beating faster. Had he been doing that the entire time…and screaming his head off and clapping because his voice felt pretty sore… What was that quiet life he thought he needed anyway? Pfft. Life wasn’t supposed to be that way all of the time. This had been a thrilling evening to remember and it wasn’t over just yet.


	10. Somebody

** Two Lives **

 

_A fanfiction written by FicticiousDelicious._

 

**Chapter 10 – “Somebody”**

            Ichigo was obviously allowed to come backstage with the other VIPs after the concert and he looked around at all of the strange equipment with curious wonder. He’d never seen behind a music stage before; there was so much stuff back here and cords by the _dozens_. How did anyone know what was plugged into what?! Well…the wireless pickups they had probably helped with that. As Ichigo made his way behind the rest of the VIPs the band came into view, greeting the few VIP friends that they’d invited as they relaxed.

            Grimmjow’s eyes caught sight of Ichigo specifically trailing behind the rest of the pack and the bassist eagerly slid down off of the speaker he’d been sitting on near Renji and Hisagi. His boots hit the wooden backstage floor with a heavy ‘thump’. Some of the latex had rubbed off his body during the concert, leaving odd holes where his actual skin showed through.

            Trying to contain his smile to a modest one Ichigo approached the man who’d brought him here with his hands folded neatly behind his back and an easy, happy expression. “My ears are ringing.”

            “Yeah they’ll do that…” Grimmjow mentioned with an amused sniff.

            Something in this man’s eyes, Grimmjow’s, looked different as he stared. Ichigo wetted his lips and glanced toward the exposed stage beside them where helpful staff were picking up the musical shit strewn across it and beyond that in the venue people were crowding to get out or standing around talking. It didn’t seem like they could see back here. “You guys are even better in concert. I’ve never been to one before this.”

            “Never?!” Grimmjow cocked his head.

            “Yeah.”

            “Hah! Well glad to pop that cherry for ya. It’s about fuckin’ time.”

            Ichigo smiled, eyes coming up again, as he’d decided on something a little risky to say. “Actually do you think you could pop one more for me? I’ve never been with a guy in a band before.” He was a little shy about the way he said that.

            Grimmjow’s eyes got wiiiiiide. Not in horror…it was almost glee. He wasn’t even mad about potentially being ousted. Soft ‘ooooo’s’ rose from the people around them and there was chuckling as those people didn’t seem to believe it was anything but a joke. However to Grimmjow’s eyes Ichigo’s sincerity in that moment was clear as the daylight that would shine tomorrow. In a second Grimmjow’s expression sobered a little and he cracked a joke, “Well sorry. Renji’s taken.”

            “Hey what the fuck?! No I’m not, he’s cute!” Renji yelled in a teasing voice before Hisagi whacked him on the side of the head. Renji batted his lashes at his partner for a moment.

            Nervously looking around for a moment Ichigo chuckled as no one seemed to actually mind what he’d said and then he looked back to- Oh… Oh! Ichigo’s face was gripped and as his glasses were pushed up he was kissed full on the mouth with a moaning sound of happiness and Grimmjow’s lip rings and piercings pushed up against his face. Ichigo’s eyes almost rolled back before they shut as he let the man’s pierced tongue into his mouth, which the eye thing was a bit weird to have involuntarily occur but this just felt so good…

            Well known for not kissing anyone on the mouth Grimmjow held onto Ichigo’s smooth face with a gesture that he didn’t show just anyone. He gave not a fuck to whoever was watching them and thankfully as Ichigo reached up to cling to him with a happy moan into his lips he clearly knew that the other man didn’t give any fucks either.

            A few jaws dropped.

            Tier and Nel looked at each other with knowing expressions. Grimmjow was now _taken_. They were going to have to harass someone else to bang their brains out but that was totally fine, Grimmjow had finally found something really good. Tier lifted her hands and clapped.

            Nel jumped up and down clapping too.

            Renji whistled obnoxiously.

            Hisagi hung on Renji, beaming as the moment distracted from conversation.

            Nnoitora was about to declare hell freezing over and Starrk and Lily arrived just in time! Grimmjow had passed their test with flying colors…he was a human after all with the capacity to care about someone else. Also…now the entire band knew that their savior had come to them because of their bassist. It wasn’t just dumb luck that Grimmjow was allowed to have lead vocals for a live song. Starrk had arranged it. In an awkward way Grimmjow had come through for them when things were looking so bleak it was almost pitch dark, and he’d saved them big time with a connection to this kind man. Grimmjow had never been that reliable before and giving him the chance to sing his lungs out onstage was fair compensation for now.

            Kissing someone with a tongue piercing and about four rings in their lips was…interesting and sexy in a thrilling way. Ichigo let the moment sink deep in and when he came back from that passionate face sucking, he felt a swirling in his head. Euphoria in the highest degree. He wrapped his arms around the man’s warm but peculiarly latex covered torso. “I forgive you _completely_. Thank you for singing for me.”

            Grimmjow had come back with a grin, wiping some on the flaking latex off of Ichigo’s jaw as he’d accidently smeared it there, and settled his other arm around Ichigo’s back as the orange-haired man hugged him. “Thank you for inspiring me. I wouldn’t have done it without that…” Then Grimmjow realized that the entire rest of the band was _still_ staring at them. “You fucks never seen a kiss before?!”

            “Not from you!” Renji barked. “I think Satan’s frostbitten!”

            “Couldn’t agree more,” Nnoitora remarked perfectly on cue. Hell was frozen.

            The rest of them laughed and Grimmjow and Ichigo settled into casual conversation by joining the rest of them and unwinding after the performance.

~

            With some kind of metal at a soft volume in the background, a bare skinned Ichigo’s hands grasped at Grimmjow’s arms as the other man had him pinned down, leaning in-between his bent-up legs. The silk sheets were hanging around Grimmjow’s torso and over Ichigo’s legs on either side of him. They breathed heavily, huskily and kept kissing as Grimmjow, also completely naked, rocked slowly and Ichigo’s body pulled on him to keep going. Like some rare experiences it had hurt a little to start but it wasn’t hurting anymore. Ichigo squeezed the man’s arms with his nails digging in lightly. Grimmjow’s lips were like velvet, discounting the piercings, and caressing so gently.

            To Grimmjow this was like nothing he’d ever done before. It was sensual and it was sweet, also like nothing he’d ever felt before even though he’d had so many different experiences. This was very different, better. This was special and as sentimental as it was he didn’t feel like a pussy for admitting that. Ichigo’s aroused body squeezed him a bit and rocked itself inward and Grimmjow groaned pleasantly. He rolled his hips and pushed the penetration deeper and longer.

            Through a sound made of pure pleasant surprise, Ichigo clung as Grimmjow leaned in and kissed and sucked his neck and ears. He could feel the calloused drag of hands on his back as arms were surrounding his body. The many piercings in Grimmjow’s ears rubbed up against his face… Grimmjow embraced him and held on. Just a bit faster…the body penetrating him started to move just a bit faster… Ichigo’s body bucked at the friction and a clasp around him between the thighs stroked in the same time as the thrusts would meet. It was heaven. Pure fucking heaven…and then all of the sudden Ichigo couldn’t think as pleasure hit a peak. Arching back into the pillows and clawing at the other body as his mind slipped free. Totally free…dropping all strings and worldly concerns and letting himself just release.

            Grimmjow was breathing raggedly, keeping the pace and sweating just a bit more as his partner hit his peak. It squeezed him and so pleasantly that he moved against the tightness, being gentle but by no means hesitating to keep rolling his hips back and forth. Grimmjow felt his senses roll forward and while Ichigo was having release Grimmjow gladly fell to it too. The light burn of scratching nails was nothing disturbing or too painful and in the moment it was just a tingling as his whole body let go and his mind went white with something sublime. The release of a lifetime and he was grateful for the man he got to do this to. He sagged with deep breaths against the second body below him…

            It was minutes before a lightly panting Ichigo started to come down and realized just how much he’d been sweating because he was wet with it now…that and _other things_ of course, but he chuckled softly as he pulled up on the sheets. Letting his legs relax, Grimmjow was shifting to let him get comfortable and withdrew with a groan.

            The tattooed man tucked his tattooed arms around Ichigo’s form, laying behind him and cleaving to him comfortably. His head could be on a goddamn cloud for all he knew, these stupid pillows were so soft. “You know…this might become a regular thing,” he joked. This satisfaction was slow fading. The slower the better.

            Ichigo laughed softly, huddled into the warmth and comfortable under the covers while backed up against his partner. “You’re not going to go back to just casually fucking anyone?”

            “Hell no.” Grimmjow kissed Ichigo’s neck. Though he managed to flick off the condom he’d used into a rubbish bin by the bed.

            Ichigo had put that bin over there with purpose. The two of them scarcely moved otherwise however just before they were ready to fall asleep Ichigo had something to ask the man behind him. “Why did you start rebelling?”

            His eyes were closed and Grimmjow groaned softly. “Is that what they call it?”

            “What would _you_ call it?”

            “Evolution?” Almost too sleepy for conversation Grimmjow yawned once and put his forehead against the back of Ichigo’s skull laxly. “Some kid from my high school… He used to get bullied. The shit beaten out of him. Bruises, scars…you name it. I never helped him but he never saw it coming I think. Went to college and the first two weeks there I saw him and he was still fucked up, but then he just disappeared.”

            Ichigo was hung up on the fact that Grimmjow had been to college, didn’t seem like the type to take structured learning well. “What happened to him?”

            “Dunno, but I swore I’d never be _that_. A nobody with people picking on me constantly because it looked horrible.”

            The orange-haired man shifted a little and turned over so that he could face his partner and put both hands up to Grimmjow’s chest idling thumbing over the man’s nipples.

            “Those are next.”

            Understanding in a second that Grimmjow meant that he wanted to get them pierced Ichigo scoffed. “Don’t you have enough holes?”

            Grimmjow smirked, finally opening his blue eyes, watching Ichigo’s hands. “No.”

            Again Ichigo scoffed and nodded. “Maybe I’ll get one too.”

            “You have one,” Grimmjow remarked, lifting a hand that he slid up from under the silken sheets to flick Ichigo’s one pierced ear.

            “You noticed that?!” Ichigo reached up and rubbed over it after Grimmjow’s hand retreated, not because of soreness but a little self-conscious in surprise. “I’d hate to think of what else you noticed from being so observant…”

            With a smirk Grimmjow just stared across the pillow. “Whatever you deck yourself in I’ll still like you for you.”

            Ichigo smiled shyly and couldn’t keep staring without getting embarrassed like Grimmjow could. “And no matter how dirty you are I’ll still like you.”

            With a gentle sigh, like he was giving up some of the steel he’d placed over his personality in the years past for protection, Grimmjow wetted his lips and looked down for a moment. “That wasn’t the whole truth. That kid with problems was me.”

            Ichigo looked up quickly with studious hazel eyes and watched Grimmjow’s lowered ones.

            “I dunno what happened to that old self but I think I just got tired of being vulnerable. Now I’m not invulnerable but at least people think twice.” He looked back up with a kind of half-smile that was a little forced but not completely. “And I swore to fuck that I’d be somebody known for something.”

            Full well knowing that Grimmjow’s destructive tumble into his life had actually rejuvenated him, Ichigo now understood the value of such a wild will. While he’d slapped the sense into this man without clipping Grimmjow’s wings, Grimmjow had, in a brutish and earnest way, done the same thing to Ichigo. They were both somebodies known for things, and especially to each other. Sometimes just hearing it was good though, so… Ichigo reached over with a broad smile and held onto Grimmjow’s face administering a kiss to the man’s lips and then the forehead and he gave the lulled man an intense look, “Well you damn well are to me.”

            For more than one thing. For more than one _great_ thing.

            “So are you coming on tour with me? I really don’t feel like masturbating the whole time…”

            “That’s not a nice reason!” Ichigo bit Grimmjow’s nose.

            “Ow! Ow! It was just a question!” Grimmjow honked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I really enjoyed this challenge. It was hard and I didn't have to write the fiction up so fast (in three days) but I kind of wanted to because this just gripped me because I love music and sex and GrimmIchi to death.  
> The formatting of this in Word is way better but I couldn't transfer the fonts into Ao3. It's not a big deal 'cept I'm [clinically] OCD about my formatting.  
> I do not do challenges often (if at all really) because I just don't have time and I'm not all that great at making time this shit so this is a bit rare and I'm proud of it.
> 
> *sweats*


	11. (bonus) Forgive Me

** Two Lives **

 

_A fanfiction written by FicticiousDelicious._

 

**Bonus Chapter 11 – “Forgive Me”**

            The morning before the band would go on tour Ichigo and Grimmjow’s bags are both already packed and waiting by the door as they spend a little time relaxing, and on the white-wood flooring of Ichigo’s lavish and pristine flat a record spins on a turntable…

 

 

[growling] To the pit I cast meee…

[growling] Under sun I was faaadiiing!

Drowning in self-piiityyy. [growl] Sinner! SINNER!

[screams] OOOH! Empty and looongiiing. Emptying and dyyyiiing!

 

[growling] I am the man from the pit, my mistakes are manyyy!

And I was falling- Faaalling! [growl] Slipped!

[screams] Faaailing! Can you heeear meee?! [growl] Disgusting.

[growling] Fallen in the deepest pit of hell…I am nooothing!

[screams] Shaaame infests these sheeets!

 

[screams] Can you see meee?! I’m sooorryyy!

[screams] With all the empty corpses around me! [growl] Fiiilthyyy!

I’m sooorryyy! Sooorryyy! [screams] That you had to see…the wooorssst of meee!!!

[screams] I’m not that eeemptyyy!!!

 

Hollow men, emptyyy men in this pit of dyyying! [screams] It’s ugly!

I did this to me… [screams] …but I’m not just eeemptyyy!

Not like these others beee! [screams] It’s not meee!

[screams] I promise, PLEEEAAASE!!!

Out of the pit of the failed and the- [screams] You’re what I waaant…toaa…seee!!!

 

You struck meee! [growl] Struck me.

Laid me out! And puuushed me! [screams] Ahead!

[screams] Let me seee! Made meee seee!!!

[screams] It hurts but it’s what I NEEED!!! Staaand with MEEE!!!

 

[screams] Can you see meee?! I’m sooorryyy!

[screams] With all the empty corpses around me! [growl] Fiiilthyyy!

I’m sooorryyy! Sooorryyy! [screams] That you had to see…the wooorssst of meee!!!

[screams] I’m not that eeemptyyy!!!

 

Will you be my new drug? [growls] Be my new drug…

Fill my life!

[screams] Forgive me! Forgive meee! Aaaaah!

Fooorgiiive MEEE!!!

 

[screams] Can you see meee?! I’m sooorryyy!

[screams] With all the empty corpses around me! [growl] Fiiilthyyy!

I’m sooorryyy! Sooorryyy! [screams] That you had to see…the wooorssst of meee!!!

[screams] I’m not that eeemptyyy!!!

 

[screams] Can you see meee?! I’m sooorryyy!

[screams] With all the empty corpses around me! [growl] Fiiilthyyy!

I’m sooorryyy! Sooorryyy! [screams] That you had to see…the wooorssst of meee!!!

[screams] I’m not that eeemptyyy!!!

 

To you I push my waaayyy! [growls] Fighting to staaayyy!

Hoooping you’ll meet meee! [screams] You’ll meet meee, pleeeaaase!

[growls] A dirty bodyyy! Sinful mind! [screams] I can’t hiiideee!

[screams] My soooul is FIIILTHYYY! Will you forgiiiveee MEEE?!

 

Craaawling! Slooogging! [screams] Lamenting!

I would for no other…but you fuel meee! [screams] Ignite meee!

[screams] Spur meee! Spur me into this scraaaping! Struggling! AAAAGH!

I’ll come! [screams] Staaand with MEEE!!!

 

[screams] Can’t you see meee?! I’m sooorryyy!

[screams] With all of these empty corpses behiiind meee! [growl] Freeing!

I’m sooorryyy! Sooorryyy! [screams] For theeese siiides of meee! SOOORRYYY!!!

[screams] I’m not that eeemptyyy!!!

 

Fill my life! [screams] Fill my life!

Forgive meee!

Fooorgive MEEE!!! OOOH! [screams] Not so emptyyy!

[screams] Fooooorgiiive MEEE!!! PLEEEAAASE!!!

[screams] AAAAGH!!!

 

 

            As the outro of distorted guitars, screams and drums raked a few final times then cut off with just a pinch of reverb pounding out of the room’s stereo speakers, Ichigo watched the record spinning around under the glass top of the turntable as the single came to an end while his elbows rested on the middle of the living room floor and his palms were under his chin. He was captivated, this was a beautiful record and perfectly captured every single note of this sentimental heavy metal song. A wonderful gift. “It sounds great on vinyl. Thank you.” He adjusted his comfortable sweater and jeans a little.

            Dressed, decked in his good leather clothes and a shirt with holes Grimmjow looked over from the white couch where he was relaxing just behind Ichigo and had been listening to his music too. “Oh? You’re welcome.” He gazed down at the other man with an enamored stare.

            Kicking his feet in socks back and forth in the air Ichigo smiled back over his shoulder with a radiant expression and a wink, “However, nothing sounds better than hearing it live.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was a last minute decision to add this chapter in because as you've seen it contains a song. That meant...writing a song. From scratch. lol A song which I wanted to be relevant and seem like something that heavy metal music would use. I just thought that this gem and proof that Grimmjow and Ichigo's lives were going further than just a night of passion would be kind of cool. So I hope it was enjoyable! I sure liked writing this.  
> This song is entirely mine and in no way based up any other published songs out there, please respect that.


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